
Class F". 4^ * 7 
Book -M . 



COFflRIGilT DEPOSIT. 



THE^STOKYOF 

AB^HAM LINCOLN 



FAMOUS AMERICANS 
FOR YOUNG READERS 



Titles Ready 

GEORGE WASHINGTON By Joseph Walker 



JOHN PAUL JONES 
THOMAS JEFFERSON 
ABRAHAM LINCOLN 



By C. C. Fraser 
By Gene Stone 
By J. Walker McSpadden 



BENJAMIN FRANKLIN By Clare Tree Major 



DAVID CROCKETT 
ROBERT FULTON 
THOMAS A. EDISON 
HARRIET B. STOWE 
MARY LYON 



By Jane Corby 
By I. N. McFee 
By I. N. McFee 
By R. B. MacArthur 
By H. O. Stengel 



Other Titles in Preparation 




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jciriZ/ 



v» ¥■ *■ *■ *f ~ 

FAMOUS AMERICANS 

For^Young Readers 

1 f 

\ THEsSTOEY-OF * 

* ABMHAM LINCOLN « 

* ^-' BY * 

J. WALKER Mc^PADDEN * 

4 * 



3 



BAESB <& HOPKINS 

NEVVD^C NEWARK 

NY- , ■ , *** 

Ai, A * * *\ 









Copyright, 1922 
BY BARSE & HOPKINS 



PRINTED IN THE U. S. A. 

RUG -2 '22 

©CI.A677736 



PREFACE 

The story of Abraham Lincoln's life is one 
that will never grow old. It is one that makes 
every fairy tale seem paltry by comparison. 
No Aladdin depending for his fortune upon 
a genie of the lamp can hope to rival in interest 
this humble backwoods boy who rose by his 
own efforts to the leadership of a great nation. 
His life story is a constant inspiration to every 
other boy in the land— and will continue so for 
countless generations. 

This book tries to avoid, on the one nana, 
the formal biography with its bristling array 
of names and dates; and on the other, the 
panegyric of praise. It is a story-telhng ac- 
count emphasizing the picturesque and human 
phases of his career. It tries to depict the 
boy and man as the friend and neighbor that 
Lincoln himself tried to be all through life. 

The present writer is by birth and education 
a Southerner. His father was a Confederate 
soldier. Never in that Southern home or com- 
munity does he recall having heard an unkind 
word against the person or character of Abra- 
ham Lincoln. The South was not long in 
recognizing, after the War, that had Lincoln 
been spared, the wounds of strife would have 



PREFACE 

been healed many years earlier than they were. 
May we be pardoned this personal reference 
and tribute to a great Southerner, who also had 
the world vision of the brotherhood of man. 

J. W. M. 

Montclair, N. J. 
Lincoln's Birthday, 
1922. 



CONTENTS 



CHAPTER 

I. A Home in the Wilderness 

II. Life on a Frontier Farm . 

III. Living from Hand to Mouth 

IV. Better Times Ahead . 

V. New Faces and Scenes 

VI. Striking Out for Himself 

VII. A Start in Public Life 

VIII. Lincoln, the Lawyer . 

IX. Lincoln, the Legislator . 

X. The Lincoln-Douglas Debates 

XL The " Rail - Splitter " is Nomi 

NATED FOR PRESIDENT 

XII. A Red-Hot Election .. 

XIII. A Captain in a Storm . 

XIV. The First Days of War . 

XV. The Commander-in-Chief 

XVI. Lincoln's Home Life . 

XVII. The Emancipation Proclamation 

XVIII. Gettysburg 

XIX. Lincoln is Re-elected 

XX. The Closing Scene 

XXI. A Nation's Grief . 



PAGE 

9 

14 

19 
26 
36 
45 
55 
63 
73 
81 

93 
105 
116 
121 
128 
135 
141 
150 
159 
167 
175 



ILLUSTRATIONS 

Abraham Lincoln Frontispiece 

From a portrait from life 

FACING PAGE 

Lincoln as a Lawyer 64 

From a daguerreotype owned by 
Robert T. Lincoln 

Mrs. Lincoln 78 

From a rare daguerreotype 

Leaders of the Civil War 168 

Lincoln, Porter, Farragut, Sherman, 
Thomas, Grant, and Sheridan 



THE STORY OF ABRAHAM 
LINCOLN 



A HOME IN THE WILDERNESS 

"Are we nearly there, Tom?" 

"Purty nigh, I reckon. If we only had a 
trail, we could make it easy by sundown." 

The speakers were a pioneer woman and her 
husband, in the wilds of Kentucky. The time 
was a little over a century ago. The woman 
was perched insecurely on the seat of a prairie 
"schooner" — a clumsy-looking wagon with 
bulging white canvas top, drawn by two 
patient oxen. Her husband trudged on ahead 
of the team, striving to clear some sort of a 
road. But it was slow work at best ; and even 
the lumbering beasts had to stop from time to 
time to await his efforts. 

The man, Tom Lincoln, was clad in rough 
homespun with fringed leggings, moccasins on 



10 FAMOUS AMERICANS 

his feet, and a coon-skin cap on his head. His 
tall, spare, but vigorous frame was that of the 
typical frontiersman. 

By the side of his wife, in the wagon, were 
two children — a girl of about seven and a boy 
two years younger. Nancy, the little girl, was 
plainly tired out from their toilsome journey; 
but her small brother, Abraham, still looked 
about him with eyes of interest. 

It was a wild and picturesque country that 
they were traversing — one which, a few short 
years before, had been held by the Indians as 
one of their favorite hunting grounds, and 
occasional bands still wandered that way. The 
woods were full of wild fowl and other small 
game, to say nothing of occasional bear and 
deer. The land was rolling, and cut across by 
gullies or ravines, down one of which, as they 
neared their destination, a swift, clear stream 
made its way. Knob Creek was its name, and 
later on the boy was to become well acquainted 
with it. It formed the northern boundary of 
the new piece of land which Tom Lincoln was 
clearing, and finally flowed into Salt River, a 
stream which empties into the Ohio River 
about twenty-five miles west of Louisville. 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 11 

The Lincoln family was making one of many 
moves. Tom Lincoln had been more or less 
of a wanderer all his life; and while a well- 
meaning sort of person, had never stuck to 
anything or any place long enough to "make 
good." He was a carpenter by trade, but 
lack of work had forced him back to till the 
soil, like all his pioneer neighbors. 

A few years before our story opens, he had 
married a girl in Elizabethtown, a village 
where he plied his trade as a carpenter. Her 
name was Nancy Hanks, and she was a tall, 
dark-haired, attractive girl, with more culture 
and education than the average frontier lass. 
They had lived very happily, although not far 
removed from want, in a little cabin in the 
town, and here their first child, Nancy, was 
born. 

Tom had managed to secure a piece of land 
on Nolin Creek, and he decided to try his hand 
at farming. His friends and neighbors gath- 
ered at the * 'log-rolling," as was the custom in 
those days, and soon they had erected a small 
cabin built entirely of logs. It had only one 
window, one door, no floor other than the hard- 
beaten clay, and an outside chimney made of 



12 FAMOUS AMERICANS 

poles and clay. But humble and plain though 
it was, it was quite as "homey" and comfortable 
as the majority of the settlers' homes in that 
section. Out on the frontier no one "put on 
airs." 

This simple log cabin near what is now 
Hodgensville, Kentucky, was destined to 
fame. Its very timbers were to be lovingly 
preserved by a later generation. For here, on 
February 12, 1809, the boy, Abraham Lincoln, 
was born. 

During those first few years, he and his sis- 
ter had few of the ordinary comforts of life. 
The cabin was bare of everything except a few 
cooking utensils and simple pieces of furniture, 
such as the father himself constructed. But a 
big roaring fire blazed on the hearth of cold 
nights ; and Tom's rifle kept the table supplied 
with meat. Their mother, too, was a wonderful 
cook and a good housekeeper; and many a 
story did she tell them by the fireside — most 
often tales from the Bible. So the boy and 
girl were happy and contented in their wilder- 
ness home. 

When Abraham was nearly five his father 
was again seized with the wanderlust. He 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 13 

found the land unproductive, and he heard of 
some better land about fifteen miles away, at 
Knob Creek. The little log cabin was accord- 
ingly forsaken for a new one of about the same 
pattern. Moving was a simple process, so far 
as household effects was concerned, but there 
were no roads, and the heavy, springless wagon 
was anything but easy to move across the 
rough country. It must have been a happy 
little family indeed, which alighted just as 
dusk was settling, and looked around the new 
clearing that was thenceforth to be "home." 

"Well, we're hy'ar," drawled Tom Lincoln, 
as he began to unspan the oxen. 



II 

LIFE ON A FRONTIER FARM 

Work was not long in finding the boy and 
girl of those days. By the time Abraham 
Lincoln was five years old, he had taken up his 
share of the daily duties. He carried in loads 
of wood, as his father chopped it. He picked 
up chips. He fetched water. He followed his 
father up one row and down another, dropping 
seeds in the new furrows. 

One such planting time he never forgot. 
Through a long hot afternoon he went 
patiently from one corn hill to another, drop- 
ping two pumpkin seeds in every other hill. 
Visions of the long, trailing vines and the 
golden fruit of autumn may have come to 
hearten them at their task. But, that night, 
when they had come home, footsore and weary, 
a heavy rain descended, flooding the valley and 
washing out every one of their precious seed. 
It was just another stroke of ill-luck which 
seemed to follow Tom Lincoln all his life. 

14 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 15 

Later he grew discouraged, instead of bucking 
up against it and fighting all the harder; and 
folks began to call him "shiftless." 

The two children, between-whiles of their 
daily work, had some schooling. A small dis- 
trict school was opened near them, and with 
other boys and girls they attended for about 
three months in the year. The teaching was of 
the simplest; the blue-backed speller, an 
arithmetic, a writing copy book, and a hickory 
switch being about all that were used. 

The benches were made of split logs, turned 
flat side up, and with pegs for legs. There 
were no blackboards nor slates. Two of the 
wandering school-teachers who came their way 
for a few short weeks were Zachariah Riney 
and Caleb Hazel. They were Abraham's first 
teachers, but the boy learned a great deal more 
from his mother at home, than from them. She 
it was who first taught him to write his name 
in sprawling characters, and spell his way 
slowly through the Bible and Aesop's Fables. 

Tom Lincoln, the father, tried to learn, too 
— but he was too tired, and his brain was too 
old to make much progress. While he did not 
discourage education for his children, he felt 



16 FAMOUS AMERICANS 

that the ax and the rifle were more useful in 
the wilderness than the pen. 

The boy, Abraham, found some fun in life, 
despite the hard work. He and Nancy had 
many a ramble together. At school he met a 
boy of about his own age, Austin Gallagher, 
who lived not many miles away. The two lads 
visited back and forth constantly, and their 
favorite time for excursions afield was on Sun- 
day afternoons. They learned to snare rab- 
bits, and to throw stones with unerring aim at 
partridges. They learned to follow the tracks 
of animals, to know the call of birds, to locate 
the pool where the biggest fish disported, the 
glen where the finest berries were to be found. 
They would have made wonderful Boy Scouts 
of a later day, for they had the finest possible 
training ground — the primitive woods them- 
selves. 

Once, Abraham had a narrow escape. He 
and Austin were walking a log across Knob 
Creek, when Abraham slipped and fell in. 
The stream was swollen from recent rains, and 
was not only deep but swift. With rare pres- 
ence of mind, Austin seized a long tree limb, 
and held it out to his struggling friend. Abra- 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 17 

ham had just strength to seize it, and was 
painfully hauled ashore. He was more dead 
than alive, and Austin was thoroughly 
frightened. 

"I rolled and pounded him in dead earnest," 
he said afterwards, "then I got him by the 
arms and shook him, while the water poured 
out of his mouth. By this means I at last 
brought him to, and soon he was all right." 

One other incident is treasured of Lincoln's 
early days, and he himself related it. 

"Do you remember anything about the War 
of 1812?" he was once asked. 

"Nothing about the war itself," he replied. 
"But once when I was a boy of about five or 
six, I was going along the road, on my way 
home from a fishing trip. I had one small fish 
— it may have been my first one, I do not now 
know. I met a soldier — and into my mind 
flashed one of my mother's precepts — to be 
kind to the soldiers because they fought and 
were willing to die for their country. So I 
turned and gave my one small fish to the 
soldier!" 

When the boy was seven years old, his father 
decided to move again — this time to Indiana, 



18 FAMOUS AMERICANS 

where, he heard, the soil was still richer. Tom 
Lincoln was of the type to whom the place just 
around the corner was always better than the 
one he had. Indiana had but recently been ad- 
mitted as a State, and plenty of land was 
available for settlers. So he sold his Knob 
Creek farm for a small amount of ready money 
and some barrels of whiskey (the latter being 
a ready means of barter both with Indians and 
settlers) , put his worldly possessions on a raft, 
and floated down to the Ohio River, in search 
of his new home. 

Poor, patient Nancy Hanks Lincoln must 
have viewed with misgiving this uprooting of 
another home; or she may have taken it with 
the calm fortitude of the pioneer wife. She 
prepared to pack up their household effects, 
while Tom went on ahead to locate a new home 
to the North. 



Ill 

LIVING FROM HAND TO MOUTH 

Tom Lincoln's bad luck still pursued him. 
He made his way up into Indiana partly by 
boat, and partly afoot. Once his boat cap- 
sized and his cargo went overboard; but the 
river was shallow here, and it was recovered. 
Later he was able to convert it into the cash 
that he so much needed. 

He went inland from Thompson's Ferry, 
and finally reached a site about fifteen miles 
away, on Little Pigeon Creek, which struck 
his fancy. It was really virgin forest, but to 
his practised eye it showed great possibilities. 
But, oh, the labor involved before a home could 
be made! There was literally nothing but 
forest and undergrowth. But, undaunted, he 
made his way back nearly a hundred miles to 
Knob Creek, got his family and belongings 
together, and once more they set forth. 

To the patient mother it may have been a 
dubious move; but to the children it was a 

19 



20 FAMOUS AMERICANS 

joyous adventure. They were not afraid of 
hardship. There had been hardships a-plenty 
in their old home. They did not know where 
they were going but, like the Southern darky, 
they were "on their way." It was the fall of 
the year and Nature had donned her prettiest 
robes. There were nuts and berries in the 
woods, and always abundant game. 

The Lincoln family traveled like gypsies, 
going slowly and camping along in likely spots. 
On rainy nights they slept under the cover of 
their lumbering ox-cart. On clear nights they 
had a big blazing fire in the open. They 
crossed the Ohio River, team and all, on a 
ferry-boat. The final lap of their journey was 
through the pathless woods, and must have 
been slow going indeed. 

At last after weeks of wandering they drew 
up into the little clearing that was now their 
only "home." 

They reached the new location too late in the 
year to build a log cabin, but they made a 
lean-to, faced toward the south, and by hang- 
ing skins over the opening and making a huge 
fire-place and rude chimney at the open end, 
they managed to keep comfortable. It was the 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 21 

sort of shelter that pioneers often made when 
they first located and, nestling in the deep 
woods, which served as a wind-brake, could be 
made fairly weather tight. 

But with winter facing them, there was no 
time for any hands to idle, however young. 
Tom turned to his boy and put an ax in his 
hand. 

"Hy'ar, Abe," he said. "You'll never Tarn 
any younger. Get busy on them saplin's" — 
indicating the thicket of underbrush which lay 
around their shack. 

Abraham was then about seven years old, but 
he tackled the job manfully. Years after, in 
writing about it, he said that it "was a region 
with many bears and other wild animals still 
in the woods, and the clearing away of the sur- 
plus wood was the great task ahead. Abraham, 
though very young, was large for his age, and 
had an ax put in his hands at once; and from 
that time till within his twenty-third year he 
was almost constantly handling that most use- 
ful instrument." 

During the next twelvemonth they lived 
almost from hand to mouth. Each day the 
problem was to provide food, fuel and water. 



22 FAMOUS AMERICANS 

Unfortunately, the new home site had no 
spring or running water, and the children had 
to carry water nearly a mile. Tom Lincoln 
would shoulder his gun in the morning and go 
in search of game, while the others would fol- 
low the endless round of duties of a camp. 
Once Abraham killed a wild turkey which had 
come too near the camp, and they had a feast. 
But he was never much of a hunter — he dis- 
liked to kill things — although he could prepare 
the skins and cure the meat. And he became 
an expert axman. 

With spring came a huge pile of new 
duties. The ground must be cleared, stumps 
cleared away, the soil plowed and sowed. To 
increase the difficulty there were many stones 
to be removed. Painfully they prepared a 
small plot of land, and while waiting for their 
crops to grow they set about building a log 
cabin. By autumn it was finished, except for 
door and windows, and they moved in with 
great satisfaction. It was like getting home 
again, for a log cabin was the best house that 
they knew. 

Scarcely had they moved out of their half- 
shelter camp, when some relatives moved into 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 23 

it. They were a man and wife, Thomas and 
Betsey Sparrow, and a grandson, Dennis 
Hanks. Betsey was a sister of Mrs. Lincoln, 
and the two women were glad indeed to have 
this companionship in the wilderness. The boy 
Dennis was somewhat older than Abraham, 
but they speedily became great friends. He 
had longed for a boy chum ever since bidding 
farewell to Austin. 

The little clearing, under the combined 
efforts of the two families, began to look like 
home. Their ground had produced some corn 
and vegetables, and enough fodder to support 
a cow and a few hogs. They faced the second 
winter on Pigeon Creek in much better shape 
than the first — although the new cabin still 
lacked a floor or covers for its windows and 
door. That seemed to be a trait of Tom Lin- 
coln's — never quite to finish a thing. 

But just at this time, when the skies seemed 
brighter, a dreadful misfortune fell upon them. 
An epidemic called the "milk fever" swept 
through the country, and both the Sparrows 
and Mrs. Lincoln took sick and died. Poor 
Nancy Lincoln ! As she lay there at rest in her 
rude pine box, her hands were folded peace- 



24 FAMOUS AMERICANS 

fully for the first time in many weary months 
— ever since, indeed, as a bride she had first 
faced the wilderness. But she was only one of 
thousands of other pioneer mothers, who toiled 
and suffered that their children and children's 
children might have a real home. 

Forlornly, Abraham and his sister followed 
the little funeral procession out to a wooded 
knoll, half a mile away, where the burial was 
made. It was a dismal day indeed; only half 
a dozen neighbors were present, and there was 
not even a funeral service, as the epidemic had 
been severe and no preacher was available. To 
Abraham this was the hardest blow of all. He 
brooded over the fact that no prayer was said 
over the body of his mother ; and several years 
later when a minister was in the neighborhood, 
he persuaded him to go out to the little knoll. 
Together they knelt down and repeated: 

"The Lord hath given and the Lord hath 
taken away. Blessed be the name of the 
Lord!" 

Then Abraham Lincoln went back to his 
work with something like peace in his heart. 
For his mother's spirit must have been near 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 25 

him that day. And that spirit knew, in the 
years to come, that this boy growing up in the 
wilderness would be her own best monument. 



IV 

BETTER TIMES AHEAD 

That winter, in which Abraham passed his 
tenth year, was dismal and wretched. Nancy- 
tried her best to take her dead mother's place, 
but she was only twelve and not very strong. 
She could cook after a fashion, but not sew. 
Their mother, with her fund of evening stories 
and good cheer, was gone, and desolate indeed 
were those shut-in days. Abraham spoke of 
them in later years as "pretty pinching times." 

Tom Lincoln looked at his motherless chil- 
dren and shook his head. Something must be 
done. One day he bade them good-bye, and 
told them he was going on business to Eliza- 
bethtown. Arriving there, he called on a 
widow, Mrs. Sarah Bush Johnston, whom he 
had known in childhood. He lost no time in 
coming straight to the point of his visit. 

"Sarah," he said, "you are a widow woman 
and I am a widow man. Our children are 

26 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 27 

growing up — yours without a father and mine 
without a mother. I come down here a-pur- 
pose to marry you. I knowed you as a gal and 
you knowed me as a boy. I'll do by you the 
best I know how. What do you say?" 

This honest, straightforward wooing had its 
effect. The widow accepted. They were 
married, and she packed up her household 
effects — which were in much better shape than 
Tom Lincoln's — and accompanied him back to 
the Indiana clearing. 

What whoops of joy were exchanged when 
Abraham and Nancy greeted their new mother 
and brother and sisters ; for the three Johnston 
children were near their own ages ! And what 
a transformation did the new mother work in 
their home ! She began with the children them- 
selves, and with soap and water gave them such 
a scrubbing as they had not had in months. 
She gave them clothes that were not full of 
holes. She brought real feather-beds with her, 
to replace the worn corn-shuck mattresses. 
She had some few pieces of serviceable furni- 
ture, and she made Tom Lincoln get busy and 
finish that long-promised floor, the door and 
windows. Best of all, she won the affection of 



28 FAMOUS AMERICANS 

both the Lincoln children, so that they came to 
love her quite as their own mother. 

The better times ahead, for which Nancy 
Hanks Lincoln had longed, began to dawn for 
the new home. Every year saw a little more 
land cleared, a little more grain laid by for the 
winter, and a few more live stock. Settlers 
began to move in closer to them, until a thriv- 
ing little community arose. With this came 
many opportunities for Tom to ply his trade 
as a carpenter. Many a piece of furniture or 
bit of house finishing was he enabled to do. 
With the coming of easier times his old careless 
ways were laid aside. His second wife saw to 
it that they did not return. 

Meanwhile, young Abe Lincoln was growing 
straight and tall, like one of the sycamore sap- 
lings of the clearing. Working early and late 
out in the open, swinging ax or hoe in all sorts 
of weather, had made him strong and hardy. 
At fourteen he was as tall as the average man, 
and could "lick" most of them. He seemed 
all arms and legs, with big heavy hands and 
feet, but he was not nearly so clumsy as he 
looked. He learned to use his father's kit of 
tools, and he often did odd jobs for the neigh- 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 29 

bors. And everywhere he went he made 
friends, because he worked willingly and was 
always good-natured. 

What troubled him most, at this time, was 
his lack of schooling. The school terms were 
extremely short, and woefully inadequate to a 
boy as ambitious as Abraham. He confided 
his desire to get an education to his second 
mother, and found her a willing ally. From 
the first she seems to have sensed that this awk- 
ward, long-legged boy was cut out for some- 
thing better than a backwoods carpenter. She 
stood between the boy and his father more 
than once when the latter lost his patience, on 
coming home and finding Abe reading instead 
of "tending to his work." 

"Let him alone, Tom," she would plead. 
"He's just got to have book learnin'. It was 
born in him." 

"Almighty gosh!" the disgusted man would 
snort. "Here he won't l'arn the carpenter 
trade, an' there's folks all over the county 
needin' work done. What good can he do with 
his book 1'arnin', I'd like to know?" 

"Well, he might be a teacher, or a lawyer, 
or a preacher," she ventured. 



30 FAMOUS AMERICANS 

Tom snorted again. 

"Yes, and starve to death at all three of 
em! What's the use of wastin' time when 
there's work to do!" 

That was Tom Lincoln's attitude, and his 
son was never able to change it. The boy was 
forced to hide his books in the daytime ; but at 
night he was unmolested, and by the blazing 
pine-knots on the hearth he would stretch out 
at full length reading some history or geog- 
raphy, or working out sums of arithmetic on a 
piece of shingle or the back of the broad fire 
shovel, with charcoal. When he by chance was 
able to borrow from the slender stock of books 
in the vicinity he was happy indeed; and he 
read and reread the precious volume before 
returning it. One of the books which fell into 
his hands belonged to a schoolmaster, Josiah 
Crawford, and reached the boy just at the 
moment to fire his imagination and direct 
his whole life. It was Weems's "Life of 
Washington," now considered out of date in 
its facts and style. As the boy Lincoln read 
of that other boy who had been a surveyor in 
the Virginia forests, and had worked his way 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 31 

up to the leadership of a new nation, his own 
deep-set eyes glowed with a new light, and his 
hand unconsciously grasped the book a little 
tighter. 

One night after he had been reading this 
book, he carried it up to his attic bed with 
him. There was a hole in the roof, and a rain- 
storm set in, which found a leak right over this 
precious volume. In the morning he was dis- 
mayed to find it water-soaked. He dried it out 
as best he could and carried it back to the 
teacher, with an apology and an offer to make 
the damage good. The irate master said that 
the book was ruined, and that Lincoln owed 
him seventy-five cents for it, which he could 
pay by working three days at pulling fodder. 
The boy did so, but felt repaid, for the book 
then belonged to him. 

Other treasured volumes were the Bible, 
which he had early learned at his first mother's 
knee. Its dignity and simplicity of style un- 
doubtedly colored his own later marvelous com- 
mand of words. He read Aesop's Fables, 
also, and Pilgrim's Progress. Whenever he 
heard others use words, or allude to facts that 



32 FAMOUS AMERICANS 

he could not understand, he could not rest until 
he got to the bottom of them. As he himself 
said, later: 

"I remember how, when a mere child, I used 
to get irritated when anybody talked to me 
in a way I could not understand. I do not 
think I ever got angry at anything else in my 
life ; but that always disturbed my temper, and 
has ever since. I can remember going to my 
little bedroom, after hearing the neighbors talk 
of an evening with my father, and spending no 
small part of the night walking up and down 
and trying to make out what was the exact 
meaning of some of their, to me, dark sayings. 
I could not sleep, although I tried to, when I 
got on such a hunt for an idea, until I had 
caught it; and when I thought I had got it, I 
was not satisfied until I had repeated it over 
and over; until I had put it in language plain 
enough, as I thought, for any boy I knew to 
comprehend. This was a kind of passion with 
me, and it has stuck by me ; for I am never easy 
now, when I am handling a thought, till I 
have bounded it north, and bounded it south, 
and bounded it east, and bounded it west." 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 3a 

This little self -revealing glimpse shows us 
both his early hunger for knowledge and his 
constant desire to express his own ideas clearly 
and simply, so that all could understand. It 
was the secret of his great success later as a 
campaign orator. 

But altogether, Abraham's days at school, 
from his seventh to his seventeenth year, would 
not have made a full year. His father had a 
habit of "needing him," just about the time a 
term was well started. The boy could earn 
twenty- five cents a day on outside jobs, and 
Tom felt that it would be a sin and shame to let 
such opportunities go begging. Neverthe- 
less, here and there, Abe did get some school- 
ing. He attended the district school infre- 
quently, where some of the pupils laughed at 
his scarecrow appearance. But he speedily 
won their respect both in the classroom and on 
the playground. He was a natural-born 
speller, and was eagerly chosen for the Friday 
spelling contests from the old "blue back" 
book. He could outrun and outwrestle any 
boy. He always played fair, and they picked 
him for umpire. And he had a constant fund 



34 FAMOUS AMERICANS 

of droll stories, many of which he had inherited 
from his father, and which he would relate with 
a delicious dialect and pantomime. 

They tell of him, in these early days, that his 
chief fault — almost his only one — was to let 
story-telling interfere with his work. He 
would drop his ax or saw any time to tell a 
story; so perhaps his father had some excuse 
for his impatience. One of his chief joys was 
to go to mill. In those days every farm-boy 
had to take his corn and wheat to the nearest 
mill to be ground, and then return home with 
the flour. Often they had to wait their turn, 
which suited Abe exactly. He was soon sur- 
rounded by an eager group of listeners, to 
whom he held forth with a seemingly inex- 
haustible supply of yarns. 

One day while waiting at the mill his horse 
grew skittish. He walked over behind the 
animal, exclaiming, "Whoa there, you — " But 
before he could complete his sentence the horse 
let fly with a heel and knocked him senseless. 
For an hour or more he lay there like dead, and 
many of his friends thought he was killed. But 
at last they revived him, when he sat up, call- 
ing, "old hussy!" 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 35 

He had completed his sentence exactly from 
the place where it was Broken off when the 
horse kicked him ! 

If there is a moral to this little story, Lin- 
coln might have said that it is: "Never start 
anything that you can't finish!" 



NEW FACES AND SCENES 

When Lincoln was eighteen he had reached 
his full height, six feet, four inches. He must 
have been an even more impressive figure then, 
than he was in later life, for he had not had 
time to round out any of the hollows in his 
angular frame. His head sat high up on a 
slender neck which had an enormous "Adam's 
apple." The head itself was surmounted by a 
tousled shock of dark hair, which never by 
any chance was kept smooth, due to his habit 
of using the locks for a towel, or to tug at, 
when in search of ideas. His legs were of 
tremendous length, for a boy. Once when 
asked how long he thought legs really ought to 
be, he replied, "Well, I reckon about long 
enough to reach from the body to the ground !" 

His mother often jested with him about his 
height, saying that she was afraid he would 
mark up her ceiling; for by this time, you must 
know, their cabin had arrived at the dignity of 

36 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 37 

whitewash, both inside and out. Abraham re- 
solved to turn the jest upon her, and one day, 
in her absence, brought home with him a small 
boy, whose feet he carefully blackened. Then 
turning him upside down in his own strong 
arms, he assisted the little fellow to walk 
across the ceiling. When Mrs. Lincoln came 
home and saw those footprints, she didn't know 
whether to laugh or cry; but the funny side 
struck her first, and she forgave her joke- 
loving son when he assured her he intended to 
whitewash the ceiling again anyhow. 

The young man's love of a joke came to be a 
local byword. But he was never accused of 
doing anything mean or underhand. This and 
his love of books were set aside as marks of 
queerness. They accused him of trying to plow 
with one hand, while the other held onto a book 
which he busily devoured! But everybody 
liked him, because he was cheerful and always 
willing to help out at any log-rolling or other 
local festivity. 

And how strong he was! He could cut 
down two trees while the next man cut one. 
He cut and split rails all day— "and good rails, 
too," as he afterwards averred. He could 



38 FAMOUS AMERICANS 

hoist a log that baffled the efforts of two men. 

A small town arose, a couple of miles away 
from the Lincoln farm, which was called Gen- 
tryville. At this time it was little more than 
a village containing a general store, in which 
one might find anything from carpet tacks to 
molasses, and where the farm products might 
be exchanged for other necessities. A man by 
the name of Jones ran this store, and he asked 
Abe to clerk for him. The young man gladly 
accepted. It was the sort of thing that he 
liked. A country store of this type was a 
community center. Here people came in to 
swap views on any subject, from the weather 
to how to run the government. The weekly 
paper from Louisville arrived here. Politics 
was a lively topic of discussion, then as always, 
and the tall youth behind the counter, as he 
weighed sugar or measured calico, got his first 
schooling in this topic, of which he was one 
day to be past master. 

Another venture which attracted him, be- 
cause of the possibility of meeting new people 
and also earning money, was to take a boat- 
load of produce down the river to New Orleans, 
and sell it. He had got this idea first while, 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 39 

as a lad of seventeen, he worked a ferry back 
and forth at the mouth of Anderson Creek, on 
the Ohio. The river steamers were beginning 
to make regular trips on the Ohio and Mis- 
sissippi; and as he watched these big, ungainly- 
craft he was seized with a consuming desire to 
see the world. But what other boy has not 
been a victim of the same travel fever? Lin- 
coln also watched the barges and other flat- 
boats making their leisurely way down stream. 
These boats usually had a tent or shack on 
board for the crew, and the latter consisted of 
two men to manage the sweeps or long oars 
which kept the craft in the center of the cur- 
rent. Under good conditions, they could make 
about six miles an hour; and once at St. Louis 
or New Orleans they sold their entire outfit, 
boat and cargo, and came back by steamer. 

Lincoln diligently tended his crops that sum- 
mer, and built a flatboat to carry them. His 
job as clerk in Jones's store postponed his 
voyage, however, and about the time he was 
ready to try it again, he had an opportunity 
to ship on another boat. But there is another 
incident of this time that is worth repeating, 
especially as it is told in Lincoln's own words. 



40 FAMOUS AMERICANS 

"I was about eighteen years of age ... we 
had succeeded in raising, chiefly by my labor, 
sufficient produce, as I thought, to justify me 
in taking it down the river to sell. After much 
persuasion I had got the consent of my mother 
to go, and had constructed a flatboat large 
enough to take a few barrels of things we had 
gathered to New Orleans. A steamer was go- 
ing down the river. We have, you know, no 
wharves on the western streams, and the cus- 
tom was, if passengers were at any of the 
landings they were to go out in a boat, the 
steamer stopping and taking them on board. 
I was contemplating my new boat, and won- 
dering whether I could make it stronger or 
improve it in any part, when two men with 
trunks came down to the shore in carriages, 
and looking at the different boats, singled out 
mine and asked, 'Who owns this?' I answered 
modestly, 'I do.' 'Will you,' said one of them, 
'take us and our trunks out to the steamer?' 
'Certainly,' said I. I was very glad to have 
the chance of earning something, and supposed 
that each of them would give me a couple of 
bits. The trunks were put in my boat, the 
passengers seated themselves on them, and I 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 41 

sculled them out to the steamer. They got on 
board and I lifted the trunks and put them on 
the deck. The steamer was about to put on 
steam again, when I called out, 'You have 
forgotten to pay me.' Each of them took from 
his pocket a silver half dollar and threw it on 
the bottom of my boat. I could scarcely be- 
lieve my eyes as I picked up the money. You 
may think it was a very little thing, and in 
these days it seems to me like a trifle, but it 
was a most important incident in my life. I 
could scarcely credit that I, a poor boy, had 
earned a dollar in less than a day; that by 
honest work I had earned a dollar. I was a 
more hopeful and thoughtful boy from that 
time." 

Lincoln's keen hunger for books at this time 
has been often mentioned by his former neigh- 
bors. Anything in the shape of a book fas- 
cinated him. He would walk fifty miles to 
borrow one, and would sit up late at night 
copying long extracts from its pages, into 
books of his own manufacture. His pens were 
made from wild turkey quills, and his ink from 
poke-berry or brier-root. One man in Gentry - 
ville owned a copy of the Statutes of Indiana, 



42 FAMOUS AMERICANS 

and Lincoln nosed it out, as a terrier would a 
bone. It contained the laws of the State and 
also the Declaration of Independence and Con- 
stitution of the United States. Abe read this 
with his accustomed thoroughness, and it may 
have given him his first incentive to become a 
lawyer. 

Another incident showing the wide range of 
his reading for those days is related by a 
woman who, as a girl, was a schoolmate of 
Lincoln's. He had earned her gratitude by 
helping her out in a spelling contest. When 
she was on the point of spelling "defied" with 
a "y," he pointed to his own eye just in time 
to save her from going down to defeat. She 
was a good-looking girl near his own age, and 
the lanky backwoodsman took a decided 
"shine" to her. Eut one day all his hopes for 
her favor went tumbling. It was all due to a 
casual remark she made while they were taking 
an evening stroll. 

"Look, Abe," she said, "the sun is going 
down." 

"Reckon not," was the unguarded reply; 
"it's us coming up, that's all." 

"Don't you suppose I've got eyes?" she 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 43 

replied indignantly. "We're standing still, 
and the sun's going down." 

"It just looks that way," Abe remonstrated. 
"The sun's as still as a tree, and we're just 
swinging around it. When it's down we're up, 
and when we're up it's down — that's all." 

"Abe, you talk like a consarned fool," the 
girl answered, and walked away with a toss of 
her head, to show her disgust at his "stuck-up 
rarnin'." 

At last Lincoln had his long-dreamed-of 
opportunity of going to New Orleans. Mr. 
Gentry, the leading citizen of Gentryville, had 
been attracted by the boy, as he saw him clerk- 
ing in the store, and now asked Abe to go on a 
boat he was sending down. Gentry's own son 
was going also, and Abe was offered eight 
dollars a month and his passage back, for the 
trip. We can well believe that the boy jumped 
at the chance. In those days it meant more 
than a trip to Europe does now. 

The two young men had "the time of their 
lives" on this trip. There was plenty of hard 
work managing the cumbersome craft, as it 
was seized by capricious cross currents, eddies, 
or rapids. But the work only added zest to 



44 FAMOUS AMERICANS 

the adventure. They disposed of their cargo 
at a good profit, spent a little time sight-seeing 
around the historic old city, and then came 
back by steamer as first-class passengers. 

This trip, with its novelty and ever-changing 
scenes, filled Lincoln with the desire to see 
more of the world. He talked seriously of 
becoming a river pilot, but was persuaded to 
stay with his father until he was twenty-one. 



VI 

STRIKING OUT FOR HIMSELF 

"Sarah, I reckon as how we'd better pull up 
stakes again," Tom Lincoln remarked one 
morning. 

They had been discussing another move — 
this time to Illinois. The farm on Pigeon 
Creek, while giving them a living, had done 
little else; and Tom Lincoln's naturally rest- 
less spirit longed for a change of scene. 

"John Hanks writes me that he can get a 
mighty fine piece of land, on the Sangamon, 
for a dollar and a quarter an acre," he con- 
tinued. "It sounds good, and I shore am tired 
of plowin' up rocks." 

"All right, Tom," replied Mrs. Lincoln. 
"What do you say, Abe?" she asked, turning 
to him. 

Abe had just been reading the letter from 
their Cousin John. It did indeed sound allur- 
ing. For several reasons he was more than 

45 



46 FAMOUS AMERICANS 

willing to go. His sister Nancy (also known 
as Sarah, after her second mother), had 
recently died. It was the second deep grief 
which had come into his life. Then, too, the 
"milk sickness" epidemic had broken out 
again, and Pigeon Creek seemed unhealthful. 

"I'm willing to go," he said. 

So it was decided, and in the spring of 
1830, when Abe was just turned twenty-one, 
they turned their faces westward. Abe him- 
self had been making plans as to what he 
should do when he became a man, but he post- 
poned them until his family should be settled 
in their new home. It was fortunate for them 
all that he did remain with them on this move, 
for it required their united efforts to carry it 
through without mishap. The roads, such as 
they were, had sunk deep in mud and water 
from the spring rains, and the heavy wagons 
were constantly mired up. Nothing but Abe's 
tremendous strength and unflagging courage 
pulled them through. 

One little incident of this journey gives us a 
glimpse of Abe's tender heart. A dog had 
broken through the thin ice of a stream and 
was in imminent danger of drowning. Despite 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 47 

the family's protests, Abe rolled up his trousers 
and waded out into the treacherous, icy stream, 
and rescued the dog. 

Abe did a stroke of business for himself on 
the way. Before leaving Gentryville he pur- 
chased a stock of small household supplies — 
pins, needles, combs, brushes, pans, and the 
like — from Mr. Jones. He sold them along 
the way, and eventually disposed of all, doub- 
ling his money in the venture. 

At last they reached the site of their new 
home, near that of their Cousin John and about 
ten miles west of Decatur. The spot looked 
attractive, and they set to work with high 
hopes. Most of that summer and winter Abe 
helped his father, with only occasional side 
jobs. They got their cabin up and weather- 
tight before the cold weather set in, and it was 
lucky they did so. That winter was famous 
for its severity. A deep snow fell, followed 
by a prolonged cold spell. There was much 
suffering in the sparsely-settled community. 
But the Lincolns managed to weather the 
storm. 

With the coming of another spring, Abe 
felt that it was high time to strike out for him- 



48 FAMOUS AMERICANS 

self. The breaking of home ties was not easy, 
but it comes to every young man. Abe had 
been an obedient son, and had gotten along 
well with his father, without either of them 
fully understanding the other. But between 
him and his stepmother a deep sympathy and 
affection existed. 

"Our minds were always open, the one to 
the other," she said later. And although she 
had children of her own, she added that "Abe 
was the best boy I ever saw, or expect to see." 

So with a "God bless you, my son," from 
both the elder Lincolns, Abe bade them good- 
bye, and struck out into the world on his own 
account. 

His first venture was toward river naviga- 
tion — shipping goods downstream, and thus 
making use of the natural highways. As there 
were almost no roads, he saw that the rivers 
were the only means of communication. The 
Sangamon River, which flowed by their farm, 
was cluttered up with driftwood ; but Abe saw 
that if it were cleared, it would open up the 
whole interior of the state. Just about this 
time the candidate for some state office came 
through the country, stump-speaking, and he 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 49 

talked about this very thing, the opening up 
of the rivers. When he got through, one of 
Abe's friends declared loudly that Abe Lin- 
coln could make a better speech than that. 

"Speech!— Abe Lincoln!— Speech!" the 
crowd shouted; and the candidate had per- 
force to second the invitation. 

The big, ungainly young man shambled for- 
ward, and a grin went around the crowd. 
They were going to have some fun. But be- 
fore Abe had said a dozen sentences they 
stopped smiling and sat up to listen. It was 
his first speech in public on a public question, 
but it caught the crowd. They cheered him to 
the echo. 

The campaigner came forward and grasped 
his hand warmly. "You made a better speech 
than I did, young fellow!" he was a big enough 
man to say. 

Not long afterward, a man named Denton 
Offutt began making preparations to ship a 
boatload of stuff by river, from a point near 
Springfield to New Orleans. He asked Abe 
and two other young men to take charge of the 
trip, and they willingly consented. They 
agreed to meet Offutt in Springfield in the 



50 FAMOUS AMERICANS 

spring of 1831, and they did so after making 
a toilsome trip through the flooded country. 

"Sorry, fellows," he greeted them, as the 
mud-bespattered trio presented themselves at 
his door, "but I haven't been able to buy a 
boat." 

That seemed to quash matters, but only for 
a moment. "Why not build it ourselves ?" Abe 
inquired. 

"Can you fellows do it?" 

"Sure!" they agreed heartily. 

"Then get busy," returned Offutt. "I'll pay 
you twelve dollars a month apiece, while she is 
being built." 

It was work with which all three were 
familiar, and soon the woodland near Spring- 
field resounded with the noise of their axes 
and saws. Abe's knowledge of carpentry 
stood him in good stead; and in a few weeks' 
time the boat was ready to launch. It was a 
clumsy craft, with a rude shelter-house at one 
end, and its total length was about forty feet. 
But it looked staunch, and would hold "a raft 
of stuff." 

The boat, being a new venture for that part 
of the country, was the talk of the day, and 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 51 

people gathered for miles around to see it start 
off. The port of departure was a village called 
New Salem. The craft had been loaded with 
hogs, pork in barrels, corn, and other produce, 
and must have looked like a Noah's Ark; but 
it floated and as the three young men worked 
the sweeps, away it went down the current, 
amid the cheers and jocular remarks of the 
spectators. But alas! in attempting to pass a 
mill-dam the boat stuck, and started settling 
at the stern. Water poured in until it began to 
look like a shipwreck. 

The crowd was particularly diverted at the 
antics of an extremely tall deckhand, whose 
trousers were rolled up "about five feet" and 
who began to direct operations. He first 
instructed that some of the cargo be carried 
ashore, and set the example with long strides 
through the water. Then as the boat slowly 
raised at one end, he took an auger and bored a 
hole in the bottom to let the water out. It was 
the first time anybody had seen a boat baled in 
that fashion, and their jests turned to cheers. 

"That's a mighty smart chap!" they said. 
"He'll get there!" 

And he did — if New Orleans was what they 



52 FAMOUS AMERICANS 

meant — for Abe and his friends reloaded their 
boat below the dam, and finally reached their 
destination without further mishap. 

The month which they spent in the busy 
Southern port was rich in experiences. In 
those days people flocked to New Orleans from 
all parts of the world. There were Indians, 
Creoles, Spaniards, Mexicans, Frenchmen, 
freebooters, adventurers, slaves, and the 
Southern plantation-owners and merchants, all 
jostling elbows together through the busy 
streets. So many flatboats were tied up at the 
wharves, that, it was said, one could walk a 
mile or more over their tops. 

The slave market was the trading center of 
the town — a sort of stock exchange. Here 
black men, women and children were daily 
offered for sale. The sight of this traffic sick- 
ened the heart of Abe Lincoln. Turning to his 
cousin, John Hanks, he said: 

"If ever I get a chance to hit that thing, I'll 
hit it hard!" 

The three young men came back North by 
steamer, and Offutt was much pleased with 
their venture. He offered Abe a place in his 
general store in New Salem, which was 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 53 

accepted. The townspeople welcomed him. 
They recognized him as the young fellow who, 
with his trousers rolled up about five feet, 
had saved the cargo that day on the dam. 
They soon discovered for themselves his fund 
of humor and story-telling proclivities. Offutt 
was so proud of his clerk that he openly 
boasted that Abe was "the cleverest and 
strongest fellow in that part of the country.'' 
This boast reached the ears of a wild outfit 
known as the Clary Grove Boys. Their head- 
quarters was a grove a few miles away from 
New Salem, and their deeds of terrorism were 
familiar to more than one hamlet. They were 
the forerunners of our gangsters of the pres- 
ent day. 

One day the Clary Grove gang came to town 
and openly challenged Abe Lincoln to a wrest- 
ling match with Jack Armstrong, their leader. 
Abe was not very keen for the contest, but 
could not very well refuse. Egged on by the 
crowd, a ring was made in an open spot in 
front of Offutt's store. Armstrong was a big, 
heavy-set fellow, and the crowd expected him 
to make short work of this tall grocery clerk, 
whose arms hung down like flails. But Lin- 



54 FAMOUS AMERICANS 

coin did not have an ounce of superfluous flesh. 
He was all bone, sinew, and muscle. He 
wrapped his arms and legs around his oppo- 
nent in a regular bear hug. Jack saw that he 
was getting the worst of it, so tried to break 
away by a foul. Abe had been in a good 
humor up to this point, but now lost his temper. 
Holding Jack at arm's length, he shook him 
as a terrier would a rat, until his teeth rattled. 
The gang rushed to their leader's assistance, 
and it looked for awhile like a free-for-all fight. 
But Armstrong stopped the others, and held 
out his hand to Lincoln. 

"You beat me fair and square, young feller!" 
he said, "and I'm for you. You're the best 
feller that ever broke into camp!" 

Armstrong later became one of Lincoln's 
staunchest friends. 



VII 

A START IN PUBLIC LIFE 

Many stories cluster about Lincoln's name 
in these New Salem days. Indeed, about no 
other person in history have so many tales been 
told. It was at this time that he won his nick- 
name of "Honest Abe," which stuck to him all 
through life. He was so careful not to cheat 
a customer, that it became a standing joke, 
One evening a woman who lived several miles 
away came into the store to make a few pur- 
chases. After she had gone, Abe found that 
he had overcharged her by six cents. That 
night he walked out to her house to return her 
money. 

His duties at the store were not enough to 
take all his time ; so he looked around for some- 
thing more to study. He talked it over with 
the schoolmaster, who suggested that he take 
up English Grammar. 

"You talk pretty well on your feet, Abe," 

55 



56 FAMOUS AMERICANS 

Mr. Graham said, "but you make a lot of mis- 
takes in speech." 

"I reckon I do," admitted Abe; "but I can 
unlearn 'em, can't I?" 

"Yes," said the teacher. "Here's a book on 
English Grammar. Study it thoroughly, and 
when you come to a tight place, I will help 
you." 

Abe needed no second invitation but took 
that book home and made its contents his own. 
How thoroughly he did it is proved by the mas- 
terly simplicity of his "Gettysburg Address" 
and other documents of later life. 

"That was easy," he told the astonished 
Graham, a few weeks later. "If that's a 
science, I guess I'll tackle another." 

Encouraged by his friends, he decided to 
enter state politics, and announce himself as a 
candidate for State Legislature. Already we 
can see in which direction his ambitions lay. 
And with his characteristic directness he went 
straight after the thing he wanted. But just 
at this time another diversion occurred which 
promised to be more exciting. 

One morning in April, 1832, a rider dashed 
through the streets of New Salem, scattering 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 57 

handbills issued by the Governor. It was a 
call for volunteers to repel an invasion of the 
Sac Indians, led by a famous chief, Black 
Hawk. The Black Hawk War, as it came to 
be known, was the last Indian disturbance 
in that section of the country. It was put 
down without much bloodshed; but for a 
time it threatened to be serious. 

The young men around New Salem 
promptly began drilling, and among them 
were many of Jack Armstrong's gang. Jack 
and Abe Lincoln had become good friends. 
When the company was formed, they chose 
Abe as captain. It was a surprise to him, and 
he afterwards declared that nothing in his life 
ever pleased him more. 

As a matter of fact, his company saw no 
actual fighting. The Indians had either been 
disposed of before his men got there, or else 
retreated without giving battle — as Indians 
have a way of doing. The militia saw plenty 
of the hardships of campaigning, with little 
excitement to relieve it. After two or three 
months of fruitless chasing around the coun- 
try, the militia disbanded. Lincoln's horse 
was stolen from him, when he was up in Michi- 



58 FAMOUS AMERICANS 

gan territory, about two hundred miles from 
home, and he had to find his way back as best 
he could, partly on foot, partly by paddling 
down the streams. 

While his military life brought him no glory, 
it was another link in the chain of experience. 
It taught him leadership of men. 

As soon as he got back from the Indian 
war, he picked up his campaign for State Leg- 
islature at the very point where he had dropped 
it. He began making stump speeches — some 
of which were literally so — and he entered into 
the give-and-take of those rough political times 
with gusto. The candidate for public office 
must be as rough and ready as his crowd. His 
speeches were liable to be interrupted at any 
point by questions or heckling; and if he was 
not quick at repartee, he stood no chance with 
the crowd. Sometimes there were free-for-all 
fights between the candidate's friends and the 
other side. 

On one occasion, it is related that Lincoln 
was in the midst of a fiery plea for the improve- 
ment of their rivers, when he noticed one of 
his followers getting the worst of it in the 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 59 

throng. Abe jumped down from the wagon, 
on which he was speaking, grabbed the other 
fellow by the trousers and coat collar and 
threw him "about twelve feet away." Then 
he calmly climbed back into the wagon and 
resumed his speech as readily as if he had only 
stopped for the usual glass of water of some 
orators. 

Lincoln was not elected this time; but out 
of the three hundred votes cast in and around 
New Salem, he got two hundred and seventy- 
seven — surely a fine record for a young, un- 
tried man who only two years before had come 
driving an ox-team into the town, his sole 
possessions being a much- worn jeans suit and 
an ax. 

Undaunted by the result of the election, 
Abe went back to his natural forte, store- 
keeping. He and another young man, Wil- 
liam Berry, started a general store, having 
bought out two rivals. Although they thus 
cornered the trade of the town, there were 
many dull hours, when Abe had the chance to 
follow up his passion for reading. Like all 
general stores, theirs was accustomed to trad- 



60 FAMOUS AMERICANS 

ing, or swapping one commodity for another. 
This did him at least one good turn, as he him- 
self afterwards related: 

"One day a man who was migrating to the 
West drove up in front of my store with a 
wagon which contained his family and house- 
hold plunder. He asked me if I would buy an 
old barrel for which he had no room in his 
wagon, and which he said contained nothing of 
special value. I did not want it, but to oblige 
him I bought it, and paid him, I think, half a 
dollar for it. Without further examination I 
put it away in the store, and forgot all about it. 
Some time after, in overhauling things, I came 
upon the barrel, and emptying it upon the floor 
to see what it contained, I found at the bottom 
of the rubbish a complete edition of Black- 
stone's 'Commentaries.' I began to read 
those famous works, and I had plenty of time ; 
for during the long summer days, when the 
farmers were busy with their crops, my custo- 
mers were few and far between. The more I 
read the more intensely interested I became. 
Never in my whole life was my mind so thor- 
oughly absorbed. I read until I devoured 
them." 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 61 

This was Lincoln's first grounding in the 
study of law. So absorbed was he that he often 
forgot his other duties. One day a farmer 
drove up to the store to make a trade, and 
watched with much interest the lank figure of 
Abe sprawled out on the ground in the shade 
of a tree. As the shadow shifted, Abe rolled 
over a little, automatically, to keep inside of it. 
But his eyes remained glued to the book. The 
farmer watched him for some time, then spat 
tobacco juice at a blue-bottle fly on the ground, 
and broke the silence. 

"What you readin'?" 

"Ain't readin'; I'm studyin'," replied Abe, 
without looking up. 

"What you studyin'?'' 

"Law," answered the prostrate figure. 

"Gosh a-mighty!" was the disgusted re- 
sponse. 

It is not surprising that, with Abe immersed 
in law, and his partner Berry being a drinking 
man, the store should not succeed. It failed, 
leaving Lincoln saddled with debt, which he 
was some years in paying. But he never 
sought to evade any part of it, although a 
portion of it, relating to the two rival stores 



62 FAMOUS AMERICANS 

which had been purchased, was not justly his. 

Just at this time an entirely new line of 
work — surveying — was offered him. He had 
not studied this subject, but went at it so 
eagerly that in six weeks he was able to handle 
a transit and level with the best of them. As 
the country was becoming developed, the 
official surveyor, John Calhoun, was swamped 
with work, and was glad to employ Abe as his 
assistant. 

His work of surveying forms an interesting 
parallel to George Washington's first work; 
and doubtless Lincoln recalled the fact when he 
thought over the life-story told in the beloved 
book by Parson Weems, which had so fired his 
dreams in boyhood. The other boy surveyor 
had finally come to the White House. Why 
not he? 

As though in line for this ambition, he 
announced himself again a candidate for the 
Illinois State Legislature, when the next elec- 
tion rolled around, in 1834. And this time 
he was elected. 



VIII 

LINCOLN THE LAWYER 

"Abe, why don't you try for the bar?" 

The question was asked by Major Stuart, 
one of his friends of the Black Hawk War. 
Stuart had heard of his reading Blackstone, 
and, himself a rising young lawyer of Spring- 
field, was willing to help him. 

"Do you think I could do it?" asked Abe, 
with a gleam in his eyes. The practice of law 
had been looming up of late as the one great 
thing in life. 

"Of course you can do it!" replied his friend. 
"I'll lend you books, and get back of you." 

It was a noble offer, and the Major was as 
good as his word. New Salem was twenty 
miles from Springfield, but the young surveyor 
walked back and forth two or three times a 
week — and always with a law volume held out 
in front of his nose. They tell yet of seeing 
the tall young fellow striding by, seeing noth- 



64 FAMOUS AMERICANS 

ing but his law book, and as like as not reading 
its text aloud. 

Another job that he worked in with his sur- 
veying at this time was that of village post- 
master. Many of the letters he carried in 
his hat. 

It was not long before his neighbors began 
to give him small legal jobs, such as drawing 
up contracts, making wills, witnessing signa- 
tures, and the like, for some of which he 
obtained modest fees, and for others nothing — 
unless it was their vote at the next election ! 

His stick-to-itiveness again had its reward. 
In 1836, when he was twenty-seven, he was 
admitted to the bar of the State. He had 
already served one term of three months in 
the Legislature, and had been reelected. With 
this public service, his surveying, his post office, 
and his studies, he had hardly allowed the grass 
to grow under his feet. Now he felt that he 
must burn some of his bridges behind him, and 
remove to Springfield. 

It meant a good deal to him. He had lived 
in the little town six years, and knew every 
man, woman, child, and dog in the community. 
His living, though scanty, was assured. If 




LINCOLN AS A LAWYER 
From a daguerreotype owned by Robert T. Lincoln 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 65 

he moved to the larger place, where he was 
unknown, he might starve to death, waiting 
for a law practice. 

There was another personal reason why he 
was willing to leave his home town. It was the 
tragedy of his first love affair. 

A few years before, Abe had met the daugh- 
ter of the local innkeeper, a lovely girl, Ann 
Rutledge by name. Between the two had 
sprung up a warm friendship, which on his 
part had ripened into love. But Ann became 
engaged to another man, named McNeill, who 
went East soon after to seek his fortune. At 
first McNeill wrote frequently ; then his letters 
became fewer, and finally ceased altogether. 

After an interval, Lincoln felt free to con- 
fess his own love, but the distressed girl would 
not at first listen to him. She still believed in 
the absent lover. Later she agreed to give 
Lincoln an answer and, it is believed, promised 
to marry him. But before they could plan for 
their wedding day, her health began to fail. 
Day by day he beheld her growing paler and 
more listless under that dread disease, con- 
sumption, or "lung fever," as it was then called. 
In August, 1835, she passed away. 



66 FAMOUS AMERICANS 

Lincoln was like a man dazed. For days he 
wandered about, scarcely speaking to any one. 
He had idolized Ann, and his whole future had 
been centered around her. It was years before 
he could bear to hear her name spoken. As a 
boy he had been subject to spells of moodiness; 
and this grief gave his mind that curious tinge 
of melancholy which was noticeable through- 
out his life. 

It was with a heavy heart that he packed his 
few belongings into a pair of saddle-bags slung 
across the back of a hired horse, told his New 
Salem neighbors good-bye, and rode away. 
Luckily he found a good friend, the day he 
reached Springfield, in James Speed, a store- 
keeper about his own age. 

"Don't board out," he advised Lincoln. 
"Get you a room somewhere, furnish it your- 
self, and cook your own meals." 

"But where can I get it?" asked Abe. 

"Right here over my store," answered 
Speed. "I've got a big room that we can fix 
up together." 

Lincoln threw one long leg over the horse, 
dismounted, took his saddle-bags, and strode 
after Speed upstairs to the room in question. 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 67 

Then he cast the bags down upon the floor. 

"Well, Speed, I'm moved!" he said. 

Another friend in need was Major John T. 
Stuart, of whom we have already spoken. 
Stuart had believed in Lincoln ever since the 
Indian campaign, and now invited him to enter 
his law office as a partner. It was a wonderful 
chance, because Stuart already had a practice 
and influence, also social position and polish, — 
all of which Lincoln lacked. 

And now a new career opened up for him. 
Gone were his backwoods days — his rail-split- 
ting, his store-keeping, his surveying. He had 
got his feet at last upon the bottom rung of 
the ladder that was to lead him up into nation- 
wide prominence. Of course, it was still many 
years off. There were days and weeks of 
struggle ahead of him yet — months when he 
wondered if he was ever going to get out of 
debt and stand as a man among men. But he 
never swerved from his work. 

At first only small cases came to him, but 
little by little he began to get a reputation as 
a first-class pleader, a man who could win 
juries. He had it in his favor that he under- 
stood men, and he would talk to the twelve 



68 FAMOUS AMERICANS 

men picked at random for the jury box, just 
as he formerly argued things out with the folks 
who came into his store to trade. He used 
words that they could understand, and he saw 
to it that the opposing counsel never confused 
the issue. Nothing would arouse his ire more 
than for the other side to misrepresent or con- 
fuse the facts. Jumping to his full height, 
towering over everybody else in the room, he 
would shout: 

"Your Honor, that ain't so — and I can 
prove it!" 

He would never take a case in which he did 
not believe himself, and for this reason, as well 
as his sincerity, he usually won. 

There are literally hundreds of stories told 
of those years of law practice, which lasted for 
a quarter of a century — from 1836 to 1860. 
Books have been made up of these anecdotes, 
and they are interesting reading indeed. Very 
often they have their element of humor, for 
Lincoln dearly loved a joke. Again they were 
dramatic or unexpected. One story is con- 
nected with Jack Armstrong, the bully whom 
Lincoln thrashed, and who became his friend. 

Years afterward, Jack's son, growing up to 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 69 

manhood, got into a fight one evening and was 
accused of the murder of a man. The mother 
came pleading with Lincoln to save her son 
from the gallows. Lincoln was "up to his 
neck" in public affairs at that time, but he 
could not turn a deaf ear to such a plea. 

The evidence, as summed up, was damag- 
ing. One witness in particular swore that he 
had seen the boy strike the fatal blow, "by the 
light of the moon." Under cross-examination, 
he stuck to this point that he could see him 
clearly by the moonlight. 

In Lincoln's closing plea he dwelt on his own 
friendship for the boy's family, and how they 
had befriended him when he was poor and 
needed help. He said that the prisoner was 
his mother's only support now, and that noth- 
ing serious had been charged against him 
hitherto except that he was a little wild. 

"Now, gentlemen of the jury," he concluded, 
"you are asked to hang this poor boy — to 
bring down his mother's gray hairs in sorrow 
to the grave — because a witness has testified 
that he saw him strike the fatal blow — by the 
light of the moon. Gentlemen" (here Lincoln 
suddenly pulled an almanac out of his pocket) 



70 FAMOUS AMERICANS 

"I have looked up the moon's phases, on the 
fatal night — and there was no moon!" 

The prisoner was freed, and when the 
mother, now weeping tears of joy, asked Lin- 
coln what was his fee, he replied: 

"Nothing at all. It has been a great joy 
to me to repay some of your kindness in my 
own early days." 

Hardworking though he was, Lincoln never 
made much money in the practice of law. 
Many of his clients were poor, and he never 
could be persuaded to charge large fees. If 
his sympathies were aroused, he would work 
just as hard on a hundred-dollar case, as 
though it were a million. Once a widow came 
to him, asking him to bring an action for dam- 
ages against the railroad company for kill- 
ing her cow. The company heard of this suit 
and sent their agent to Lincoln with a counter- 
proposition. They offered him five hundred 
dollars, a large sum for those days, if he would 
defend the company. They felt that it would 
be a bad precedent to set, if the company were 
sued every time a stray cow was killed. 

"But I have already promised the widow to 
take her case," said Lincoln. 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 71 

"Tell her you've reconsidered. Even if she 
wins, she can't possibly pay you any such fee 
as this" — shoving a check for five hundred 
dollars in front of Lincoln. 

"No!" exclaimed the young lawyer. "I 
can't go back on my word. I'll take her case, 
and I'll win it!" 

And he did. 

So successful was he as a pleader before the 
bar, that his winning of cases became prover- 
bial. His droll turns of wit and his knowledge 
of human nature — to say nothing of his ability 
to get the legal aspect of the case — made him a 
tower of strength to his clients. But he never 
rested on his reputation. His boyhood habit 
of reading far into the night was still kept up. 

In 1855, twenty years after he had begun 
to read law, and his reputation was state-wide, 
he was called to Cincinnati to assist in a cele- 
brated lawsuit. The McCormick Harvester 
Company was suing another company for an 
infringement of patent, and some of the ablest 
lawyers in the country had been retained on 
the case. That Lincoln was chosen was in itself 
a compliment; but when he presented himself 
in Cincinnati, with his somewhat uncouth out- 



72 FAMOUS AMERICANS 

fit, the dapper Eastern lawyers would have 
none of him. They did not reject his services 
utterly, but they kept him in the background, 
and did not permit him to speak in court. One 
of these lawyers, Edwin M. Stanton, was, a 
few years later, selected by Lincoln for the 
post of Secretary of War in his Cabinet — 
which shows, if nothing else, that Lincoln was 
too big a man to harbor a grudge. He could 
recognize ability, and he saw in this first 
"big" case that these polished Easterners had 
several things which he lacked. After the case 
was settled, he remarked to a friend : 

"I'm going home to study law." 

"Why, Mr. Lincoln," remonstrated the 
other. "What are you talking about? You 
are at the head of the Illinois bar now." 

"Yes, but that's as far as I'll ever get, unless 
I study up law, and can meet these Eastern 
chaps on their own ground. I'll go back and 
study some more, I reckon — and one of these 
fine days I'll be ready for them!" 



IX 

LINCOLN THE LEGISLATOR 

Lincoln was elected to the State Legislature 
in 1834 — when he was twenty-five — and was 
reelected for other terms of about three 
months each. The capital at that time was 
Vandalia, in the southern part of the state ; and 
as the central and northern sections began to 
be built up, there were loud complaints from 
the lawmakers at having to travel so far. 

Springfield, in Sangamon County, was cen- 
trally located, and while it lacked communica- 
tions and was still only a small town, it pre- 
sented some natural advantages as a future 
capital. So, at least, thought Lincoln and the 
other men elected from Sangamon County. 
There were nine of them in all, — every man 
Jack of them over six feet tall and weighing 
about two hundred pounds. They came to be 
known as the "Long Nine," and they rushed 
the Springfield capital project like a husky 

73 



74 FAMOUS AMERICANS 

football team. They finally won, and the chief 
credit fell to the longest, lankiest member of 
the team, Abe Lincoln. 

When he came up for reelection in 1836 
there was a lively campaign. Like every other 
lawgiver, his past record came up for attack. 
He had already taken his stand on such burn- 
ing questions as slavery and abolition. No 
matter whether folks agreed with him or not, 
they knew where to find him. 

One day, after making a red-hot speech, a 
man in the crowd, named Forquer, undertook 
to take him down a peg. Forquer was himself 
an able man, gifted with a sarcastic tongue, but 
had been a political turncoat, and, it was whis- 
pered, always looked out for his own pocket — 
like some politicians of the present day. 
Forquer had recently decorated his house with 
a lightning-rod, then a novelty in that part of 
the country. 

After "skinning Abe alive," as he thought, 
in a lively speech, Forquer sat down. Then 
Lincoln took the stand again, refuting his 
arguments and ending : 

"The gentleman commenced his speech by 
saying that I would have to be taken down, 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 75 

and he was sorry the task devolved upon him. 
I am not so young in years as I am in the tricks 
and trade of a politician; but live long or die 
young, I would rather die now than, like the 
gentleman, change my politics and, simultane- 
ously with the change, receive an office worth 
three thousand dollars a year, and then have to 
erect a lightning-rod over my house to protect 
a guilty conscience from an offended God!" 

This brought such shouts of laughter from 
the delighted crowd, that it was not hard to 
find the man who had been "taken down." 

His ability to divert ridicule from himself 
and on to the shoulders of the other fellow was 
a tremendous asset with him always; but on 
one occasion he went a little too far. He had 
aroused the political enmity of a pompous 
man named Shields, and could not resist satiriz- 
ing him in a letter to the local paper, signed 
"Aunt Rebecca." The incident might have 
ended there, had not a young lady in whom 
Lincoln was specially interested — Mary Todd 
— taken it up. Mary and a girl friend wrote 
other letters about Shields, over the same 
"Aunt Rebecca" signature. 

Shields, in a towering rage, sought the editor 



76 FAMOUS AMERICANS 

of the paper and demanded the writer's name. 
When the editor reported this to Lincoln, he 
answered: ''Keep the young ladies' names out 
of this. Tell him I did it." 

A challenge to a duel was immediately forth- 
coming, and Lincoln was perplexed. He did 
not believe in duels, but he did not see a way 
to avoid this one. It was his privilege to choose 
the weapons, so he chose cavalry broadswords 
of the largest size. Shields had, perforce, to 
accept, although he was a thickset man, about 
half as tall as Lincoln. 

They chose seconds and met for the duel at 
the spot agreed upon. Lincoln looked serious, 
and waved his big weapon around in the air, to 
test it, in a careless sort of way. Shields didn't 
like the looks of things, but was brave enough 
to stand his ground. Finally, as a last flourish, 
Abe reached up and clipped a twig off a tree- 
branch, seemingly about ten feet above his 
head. It was so far out of the reach of every- 
body else present, that the seconds could not 
restrain their laughter. Just then a boatload 
of friends of both parties pulled up hastily, 
and by their efforts peace was restored. But 
Lincoln never forgot the lesson of his one duel, 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 77 

and was exceedingly careful thereafter how he 
trod on others' pet corns. 

In 1840 he had refused reelection to the 
Legislature, thinking that it was time for him 
to stand for a higher office. He wanted to go 
to United States Congress, and announced 
himself as a Whig candidate. But he was 
defeated for the nomination. Two of his 
friends and legal associates, Hardin and Baker, 
were also candidates, and Lincoln felt that he 
could not fight them. Hardin was chosen; 
and Lincoln then did an unprecedented thing 
hy moving that Baker be listed as the choice of 
the convention two years hence. This was 
quickly done, and thus made it impossible for 
Hardin to succeed himself. Baker conse- 
quently was chosen in 1844. When his term 
was up, in 1846, Lincoln again announced his 
own candidacy, and the others evidently 
thought that "turn about was fair play," for 
they elected him by a rousing majority. 

Meanwhile, in 1844, he was made a presi- 
dential elector, in the candidacy of Henry 
Clay. Lincoln had been a lifelong admirer of 
the famous Kentucky orator and statesman, 
and now stumped Illinois with enthusiasm, in 



78 FAMOUS AMERICANS 

his behalf. lie also went over into Indiana, 
and on one occasion spoke in his old home town 
of Gentryville. As the friends and neighbors 
of his boyhood clustered around his buckboard 
and clasped his hand, he was so deeply stirred 
that for several minutes he could not utter a 
word. 

Lincoln had been spurred on to higher polit- 
ical ambitions by the same young woman who 
had been partially the cause of his duel. Mary 
Todd was a Kentucky girl, lively and viva- 
cious and fond of society. She had been much 
sought after, but had seemed to prefer the 
society of the tall, awkward lawyer, to other 
more polished swains. She looked beyond his 
crude exterior, and openly predicted a bril- 
liant future for him. They became engaged 
to be married, but for a time the engagement 
was broken off. Lincoln was afraid that there 
was too great disparity between them. She 
had had many social advantages that he had 
been denied. He was utterly miserable, after 
he made this decision. His old brooding 
melancholy seized him again. He found that 
he could not be happy without her; and their 
disagreement was patched up, after a few 



^^ 




m 



MRS. LINCOLN 
From a rare daguerreotype 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 79 

months. They were quietly married, Novem- 
ber 4, 1842, and two years later they bought a 
house in Springfield. 

The young wife supplied just the added 
inspiration that Lincoln needed at this time. 
She coached him in social etiquette, made him 
get clothes of more fashionable cut, and in 
many little ways groomed him for the larger 
public life just ahead. When he finally 
removed to Washington, in 1847, to take his 
seat in Congress, he had acquired much of that 
dignity and poise for which he was so marked 
in later years. 

Lincoln's term in Congress was limited to 
two years, and he was not reelected. He had 
not made himself popular enough with his 
constituents. For one thing, he had taken a 
stand against the Mexican War, declaring that 
the United States was the aggressor and in 
the wrong. Of course, such a stand was 
decidedly unpopular, but Lincoln would not 
truckle, or hide his sentiments, as a weaker 
man would have done. Then, at the conclusion 
of the war, when Texas and the larger territory 
to the north was added to the Union, Lincoln 
aroused still wider enmity by declaring that it 



80 FAMOUS AMERICANS 

should all be free — that is, that no more slave- 
holding states should be admitted. It was a 
dangerous question, which wrecked more than 
one political career, and, seemingly, Lincoln's 
among them. But we shall see that it later 
gave him his national opportunity. 

Now, his tenure of office over, he returned 
home cheerfully, and took up again the prac- 
tice of law. 



THE LINCOLN-DOUGLAS DEBATES 

Back during the days when Lincoln was a 
raw young legislator, in Vandalia, Illinois, he 
met another young fellow just earning his 
spurs in politics. His name was Stephen A. 
Douglas. Stephen was short, and Abraham 
tall, but Stephen was no mean antagonist in 
any contest, as Abraham soon discovered. The 
two learned early to respect each other, though 
they never became close friends. 

Douglas came of better social stock than 
Lincoln, and had been given more advantages. 
His star rose steadily and rapidly, and bade 
fair to eclipse that of Lincoln totally. By the 
time the latter had served one brief term in 
Congress and gone back to retirement, 
Douglas was senior Senator from Illinois and 
a figure of national prominence. It was 
openly predicted that he would one day be 
president: His friends called him the "Little 
Giant." 

81 



82 FAMOUS AMERICANS 

If there was any envy in Lincoln's breast at 
this turn of fortune's wheel, he did not show it. 
He threw his whole energies back into the prac- 
tice of law, and so interested did he become 
that it is likely, if he had been offered a local 
or state office, he would have declined it. For 
five years he thus worked, his law partner 
being at this time Herndon, of Springfield. 
The firm achieved a reputation that was state- 
wide. 

But just then something happened which 
threw Lincoln neck-and-crop back into na- 
tional politics — and this time "for keeps." 

A bill was introduced into Congress to 
repeal the Missouri Compromise. This Com- 
promise was an agreement which the people of 
the United States had entered into some thirty 
years before, and which provided that all 
states above a certain latitude should be 
"free" states — that is, no slave-holding should 
be allowed in them. Now with the admission 
of other Western states north of Missouri, 
efforts were being made to break down this 
agreement, and leave it to the new states them- 
selves to determine whether their citizens 
should own slaves, or not. 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 83 

Douglas was a member of the committee at 
Washington, which prepared bills for the 
admission of Kansas and Nebraska. With his 
eye to a future nomination for President, he 
sought to curry favor with the South by tack- 
ing on an amendment to the above effect. 

"This is right," he said; "it is what is meant 
by States' Rights. Let the states themselves 
decide." 

But if his move made friends in the South, 
it made enemies in the North. A roar of pro- 
test went up, and the clamor was by no means 
least in his home state, Illinois. Douglas 
found it advisable to hasten home and "mend 
his fences." 

Lincoln was one whom the proposed repeal 
of the Missouri Compromise had worked up to 
fever heat. We have already seen how he 
hated slavery, ever since that far-off day in 
New Orleans when he promised himself to hit 
it hard, if he ever got the chance. This seemed 
one of the chances, and as he rode back and 
forth over his circuit, visiting one court after 
another, he expressed himself vehemently 
whenever he could find a listener. One of his 
friends tells of seeing him sitting on the edge 



84 FAMOUS AMERICANS 

of his bed in the early morning, clad only in a 
long white nightshirt. 

"I tell you," Lincoln broke out when he saw 
that his friend was awake, "I tell you that this 
country cannot exist much longer, half slave 
and half free." 

"Oh, go back to sleep, Abe," was the reply. 

But Lincoln refused to go back to sleep now 
— in the political sense. He was thoroughly 
awake. Meanwhile, Douglas was having a 
hard time of it. He tried to speak in Chicago, 
and they howled him down. He argued half 
the night with them. It was a new experience 
for the Little Giant, whose persuasive tongue 
had long since won him the esteem of men. 

Be it said to Douglas's credit that he was no 
coward. He went on a speech-making tour of 
the state and won a respectful if not altogether 
successful hearing. Men's minds were still 
divided on this vexed subject of slavery — as 
they had been ever since the United States had 
become a nation; for the Constitution had 
remained silent on the question. 

In October, of the memorable year 1854, 
Douglas came to Springfield. 

"Why," he argued, "shall we try to impose 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 85 

our wills upon the people of Kansas and 
Nebraska? Why not give them the same privi- 
leges that other states have enjoyed — to make 
their own laws and mind their own affairs?" 

It was the time of the annual state fair, and 
crowds from the surrounding country had 
flocked in. Lincoln had been chosen to answer 
him, and the gist of his argument was: 

"I admit that the emigrant to Kansas and 
Nebraska is competent to govern himself; but 
I deny his right to govern any other person 
without that person's consent." And he went 
on to say: "What my opponent means is, if 
you do not object to my taking my hog to 
Nebraska, therefore I must not object to your 
taking your slave. I admit this is perfectly 
logical — if there is no difference between hogs 
and negroes!" 

Lincoln spoke for three hours on this mo- 
mentous occasion, and it is regarded as one of 
the most important speeches of his whole 
career. It was, in effect, the throwing of his 
glove into the political arena. 

Douglas sat in the front row of the crowd, 
with folded arms, and was visibly perturbed as 
the speaker drove home one argument after 



86 FAMOUS AMERICANS 

another, with long sweeps of his arms, as 
though he were splitting rails. When the 
speech was over, he came up and congratulated 
Lincoln, with perhaps just a trace of patronage 
in his manner. 

"Lincoln, you know a lot more about this 
subject than I gave you credit for," he said. 
"You are giving me more trouble than the 
whole United States Senate/ ' 

Douglas realized this fact even more keenly 
a few days later. They met again at Peoria, 
and again Lincoln's "terrible earnestness" 
mingled with his sudden flashes of humor, 
caught the crowd. Douglas had remarked in 
his speech, "The Whigs are all dead." 

After he sat down, Lincoln did not immedi- 
ately get up, but sat still for a few moments 
with face averted. Finally he arose and 
drawled: "Mr. Douglas remarked awhile ago 
that the Whigs are all dead. If this be so, 
fellow-citizens, you will now experience the 
novelty of hearing a speech from a dead man; 
and I suppose you might properly say, in the 
language of the old hymn : 

" 'Hark! from the tombs a doleful sound!' " 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 87 

The audience fairly howled with delight at 
this thrust; and from the start of his speech 
Lincoln held their close attention. Douglas 
saw defeat staring him in the face, If this sort 
of thing was to go on. 

"Let's call it quits, Lincoln," he said. And 
for the time being they called the debates off. 
But the honors for the first round rested with 
the rail-splitter. 

The next few months saw politics at a fever 
heat throughout the nation. Slavery had come 
to be the one and only political issue. Douglas 
found that he could not keep out of it, and 
neither could Lincoln. The latter worked like 
a beaver to line up the Whigs solidly on the 
question, and as it did not seem possible, a new 
party was formed, called the Republican 
Party. This was in May, 1856, and Lincoln 
was one of its founders. Again he made a 
great speech — so earnest, so magnetic, so 
impelling, that at its close the audience rose 
as one person, cheering like crazy men. The 
reporters down at the press tables threw aside 
their pencils before the speech was half done, 
and entirely forgot their tasks in the general 
tumult. For this reason, no notes were ever 



88 FAMOUS AMERICANS 

preserved of this effort, and it has gone down 
to history as "Lincoln's Lost Speech." One 
of the reporters afterwards declared : "If Mr. 
Lincoln was six feet four inches high, usually, 
at Bloomington that day he was seven feet 
high, and inspired at that!" 

But while the actual words of this famous 
speech were lost, its message burned its way 
into the hearts of its hearers. Lincoln was 
recognized as one of the standard-bearers of 
the new party. At its first national conven- 
tion, that year, he was nominated for Vice- 
President, and received one hundred and ten 
votes. 

While the new party did not make much 
headway on its own account, that first year, it 
did accomplish a good deal in the way of house- 
cleaning. It carried the Illinois elections, and 
for the first time in his political career Douglas 
received a crushing defeat. 

Douglas himself did not come up for re- 
election to the Senate until two years later, 
and this time he could not avoid further debate 
with Lincoln, because the latter had been 
nominated as the candidate to oppose him. 
Seven debates were arranged for, in this cam- 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 89 

paign, and Douglas entered them in somewhat 
bad grace. He had won nation-wide fame as 
one of the most skillful debaters in the United 
States Senate, but somehow or other he had 
not seemed to get along very well with his 
home people, since Abraham Lincoln had got 
into the fight. 

The two men were well matched as speakers, 
but were utterly dissimilar in their methods. 
Douglas was a foot shorter than Lincoln, a 
trifle stout, but attractive of face, voice, and 
manner. His voice had a pleasing quality 
which won his hearers. He cleverly avoided 
direct issues wherever possible, and was for 
compromise. His last speech in the Senate, 
which had won him many friends both North 
and South, concluded with these words: 

"If Kansas wants a slave-constitution, she 
has a right to it ; if she wants a free-state con- 
stitution, she has a right to it. It is none of 
my business which way the slavery clause is 
decided. I care not whether it is voted up or 
down!" 

Lincoln, on the contrary, was blunt in his 
speech, and went straight to the point. He 
had stated his political creed a short while be- 



90 FAMOUS AMERICANS 

fore, in a speech which many of his friends had 
urged him to omit or tone down, as they said it 
would kill him politically. He had said : 

" *A house divided against itself cannot 
stand.' I believe this government cannot 
endure permanently half slave and half free. 
I do not expect the Union to be dissolved. I 
do not expect the house to fall — but I do expect 
it will cease to be divided. It will become all 
one thing or all the other. Either the oppo- 
nents of slavery will arrest the further spread 
of it, and place it where the public mind shall 
rest in the belief that it is in the course of ulti- 
mate extinction; or its advocates will push it 
forward, till it shall become alike lawful in all 
the states, old as well as new — North as well 
as South." 

It was because of this speech and others like 
it, that the Southern states came to regard 
Lincoln as their bitterest foe — a man to be 
defeated at any cost. Therefore, the coming 
contest between him and Douglas for a seat in 
the Senate attracted national interest. Large 
crowds came to hear the debates, and news- 
papers all over the country reported them. 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 91 

At first Douglas adopted a condescending 
attitude toward Lincoln, as much as to inti- 
mate that it was an honor for a famous Sena- 
tor to debate with him at all. 

"Why, I knew Lincoln twenty years ago 
here in the State Legislature,' ' he said. "He 
means well, but what has he ever done? You 
folks sent him to Congress for two years, but 
he couldn't get reelected." 

Lincoln came back at him by charging that 
he was trying to carry water on both shoulders 
— to please both the North and the South. 
And to prove this, Lincoln propounded a 
series of questions which did, in fact, get the 
wily Little Giant into a tight corner. He 
could not answer them directly without offend- 
ing one side or the other. He "side-stepped" 
most of them, but on the whole leaned toward 
the North in his answers. 

So clever was Douglas that, despite the fact 
that Lincoln had the better of the arguments, 
Douglas retained his seat in the Senate. He 
was chosen by the State Legislature, instead 
of by the voters direct, for they esteemed him 
the "safer man." He was still in line for the 



92 FAMOUS AMERICANS 

presidency, while Lincoln was feared as a radi- 
cal. Lincoln went back home again to resume 
the practice of law. 

When a friend asked him how he felt over 
the election, he said he felt like the overgrown 
boy who had stubbed his toe. 

"It hurt too bad to laugh, and he was too 
big to cry!" 



XI 



". 



THE RAIL-SPLITTER IS NOMINATED FOR 
PRESIDENT 

While on the face of it Lincoln was beaten 
in his debates with Senator Douglas, keen 
observers who looked beneath the surface 
thought differently. 

* 'Watch that man!" they said, indicating the 
tall form of the Springfield lawyer. "The 
country will hear from him yet." 

Others were boasting loudly : "We have two 
giants here in Illinois — the Little Giant and 
the Big Giant!" 

Folks back East commenced to take notice of 
affairs in Illinois, and the editors of local news- 
papers began to receive requests for details 
regarding this man from Sangamon County, 
who so ably held his own with Douglas. 

"Why, Douglas is one of the best debaters 
in the Senate," they said. "He has been con- 
sidered a match for Daniel Webster, Henry 

93 



94 FAMOUS AMERICANS 

Clay, Charles Sumner, and Robert Hayne. 
Who is this Abraham Lincoln that has caused 
him so much trouble?" 

Born of these inquiries and the curiosity of 
[Eastern people to get better acquainted 
with him, Lincoln received an invitation to 
address a public meeting in Brooklyn. He 
accepted and made careful preparations for 
it, although naturally somewhat nervous. 
When he reached New York, however, he 
found public interest was so aroused that the 
meeting had been transferred to Cooper Union, 
one of the largest auditoriums in the city. This 
did not tend to make him any more comforta- 
ble, but it did arouse his fighting blood. 

On the stage and in the audience that night 
were men of prominence in politics, art, and 
letters — such men as Horace Greeley, of the 
Tribune; William Cullen Bryant, of the Post, 
and George William Curtis, of Harpers 
Magazine. The whole audience, while friendly, 
was a critical one; and when the towering, 
loose- jointed man from the West came for- 
ward and was introduced, a quiet smile went 
around. He might do for the rough-and- 
ready West, they thought; but for New York, 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 95 

or Massachusetts — well, that was a different 
matter. 

However, they settled themselves back in 
their chairs for an evening's entertainment. 
Lincoln's fame as a story-teller had preceded 
him. They expected to be amused, at any 
rate. They were unprepared for what actually 
happened. 

Lincoln began in a low and somewhat hesi- 
tating voice. He looked at them earnestly and 
spoke simply and directly. He did not smile 
and, wonder of wonders, he did not crack a 
single joke. He took his text from a remark 
of Douglas's, on the subject of slavery: 

"Our fathers, when they framed the Gov- 
ernment under which we live, understood this 
question just as well, and even better than we 
do now." 

Douglas had meant to imply that "our 
fathers" had deliberately written slavery into 
the law of the land. Lincoln set himself to 
expose the fallacy of such an argument. He 
traced out, step by step, the progress of the 
Constitution in its making and adoption; then 
spoke in detail of the men who had signed it, 
and proved by historic fact that a majority of 



96 FAMOUS AMERICANS 

these men had personally opposed slavery, but 
had not made an issue of it at the time, because 
of the difficulty of getting the Constitution 
ratified at all. 

As the speaker warmed to his theme, his 
awkwardness of manner and hesitation of 
speech passed away. He was a man trans- 
formed. His voice rang out like a trumpet. 
He cited history fluently and without reference 
to notes. "No compromise!" was his plea. 
Let the Republican Party cease to traffic with 
this evil. 

"All they ask we could readily grant, if we 
thought slavery right," he affirmed. "All we 
ask they could as readily grant, if they thought 
it wrong." 

Yes, there lay the whole difficulty — the ques- 
tion as to whether slave-holding was right or 
wrong. He closed with an appeal which was 
almost a prayer : 

"Let us have faith that right makes might; 
and in that faith let us to the end dare to do 
our duty as we understand it." 

When he had ended, the audience sat for a 
moment as if spellbound — hypnotized by the 
tremendous power and earnestness of this man. 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 97 

Then the hall fairly rocked with applause. 
Men crowded around the platform to congratu- 
late him. Horace Greeley remarked to a 
friend that it was one of the finest examples 
of sustained oratory he had ever heard, or ever 
expected to hear. He had listened to Web- 
ster's famous "Reply to Hayne" in the Senate, 
but he regarded this speech as greater. 

The next day the New York papers were 
full of this meeting and speech ; and Lincoln's 
face — till then unfamiliar to them — appeared 
in large display. It was a face which they and 
the country at large were destined never after 
to forget. 

Lincoln went by invitation to several cities 
in New England, speaking to large and admir- 
ing throngs. They took to him from the first. 
This Eastern trip undoubtedly paved the way 
for the nomination for the presidency which 
was soon to be his. 

It goes without saying, that the folks back 
home were immensely proud of his Eastern 
success. 

"Told you so," they said, when such papers 
as Harper's Weekly came out with Lincoln's 
picture taking up the entire front page. 



98 FAMOUS AMERICANS 

Not long thereafter, the State Convention 
of his party was held at Decatur. It was in 
May, 1860, and just prior to the National Con- 
vention which was to take place at Chicago. 
Lincoln's friends thought that the latter fact 
was a strong point in their favor ; and that if he 
won the state nomination, he would get the 
national. Others, however, argued that Lin- 
coln was too "new" a man — that he wouldn't 
stand a show against such polished and experi- 
enced statesmen as William H. Seward and 
Salmon P. Chase. It looked as though Lin- 
coln's old rival, Douglas, would get the Demo- 
cratic nomination, and with the South behind 
him it would require the strongest candidate 
that the Republicans could produce, to beat 
him. 

But whatever doubt his friends had, as to 
the success of the State Convention, was soon 
swept away. The delegates had no more than 
settled down to business, when a commotion 
was heard at the entrance. Everybody turned 
their heads and craned their necks to see what 
was up. Down the aisle came a strange pro- 
cession. It was led by two men, carrying a 
couple of fence rails on their shoulders. One 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 99 

of these men was John Hanks, a cousin of 
Lincoln, and the man who had induced Tom 
Lincoln to move to Illinois from Indiana. 
From the rails dangled a banner bearing these 
words : 

Abraham Lincoln 

The Rail Candidate 
For President in 1860. 
Two rails from a lot of 3,000 made 
in 1830 by John Hanks and Abe 
Lincoln — whose father was the 
first pioneer of Macon County. 

This little homely touch was like spark to 
tinder. The convention — like political con- 
ventions will — went wild with enthusiasm, and 
was easily stampeded to Lincoln. Here was a 
man who had faced poverty, and who had never 
been afraid to toil with his hands. During the 
demonstration Lincoln sat on the stage blush- 
ing like a schoolboy. When called on for a 
speech he merely said, pointing to the banner : 

"I suppose I am expected to reply to that. 
I cannot say whether I made those rails or not, 
but I am quite sure I have made a great many 
just as good." 



100 FAMOUS AMERICANS 

The next week, the National Convention 
met in Chicago ; and you may be sure that Lin- 
coln's friends did not neglect to call the atten- 
tion of the delegates to the fact that they had a 
"favorite son." Flags and streamers were 
hung everywhere with "Vote for the Rail 
Splitter," "Honest Abe, our Choice," and the 
like. 

An immense building called "The Wig- 
wam," and capable of seating 10,000 people, 
had been built for the occasion. No sooner 
had the vast throng been "called to order," 
than this big political pot began to seethe and 
bubble and overflow into little groups, each 
working earnestly for its candidate. To call 
such a gathering "to order" was a huge joke — 
but everybody was too busy to see it! 

Politics that year was at fever heat. Every- 
body sensed that the fate of the nation — at any 
rate, its peace — hinged upon the events of the 
next few months. 

On the first ballot, William H. Seward led, 
as was expected. He was New York's favorite 
son, and an able and brilliant man. That 
he was to serve later with such fine dis- 
tinction as Secretary of State, the most im- 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 101 

portant post in Lincoln's Cabinet, indicates the 
caliber of the man. Lincoln, who was his 
nearest competitor on this ballot, presented a 
sharp contrast to his opponent. It was the 
rough-and-ready West against the cultured 
East again. 

Seward's strength was exhausted on the first 
ballot. The second showed a decided drift 
toward the "Rail Splitter." The third ballot 
decided it. Lincoln had received the required 
number of votes. An eye-witness, Mr. F. B. 
Carpenter, gives a graphic picture of this 
dramatic occasion: 

"The scene surpassed description. Men 
had been stationed upon the roof of the Wig- 
wam to communicate the result of the different 
ballots to the thousands outside, far outnum- 
bering the packed crowd inside. To these men 
one of the secretaries shouted, 'Fire the salute ! 
Lincoln is nominated!' Then, as the cheering 
inside died away, the roar began on the out- 
side and swelled up from the excited masses 
like the noise of many waters. This the 
insiders heard, and to it they replied. Thus 
deep called to deep with such a frenzy of sym- 
pathetic enthusiasm that even the thundering 



102 FAMOUS AMERICANS 

salute of cannon was unheard by many on the 
platform. 

"When the excitement had partly subsided, 
Mr. Evarts of New York arose, and in appro- 
priate words expressed his grief that Seward 
had not been nominated. He then moved that 
the nomination of Abraham Lincoln be made 
unanimous. Governor John A. Andrews, of 
Massachusetts, and Hon. Carl Schurz, of Wis- 
consin, seconded the motion, and it was carried. 
Then the enthusiasm of the multitude burst out 
anew. A large banner, prepared by the Penn- 
sylvania delegation, was conspicuously dis- 
played, bearing the inscription, 'Pennsylvania 
good for twenty thousand majority for the 
people's candidate, Abe Lincoln.' Delegates 
tore up the sticks and boards bearing the names 
of their several states, and waved them aloft 
over their heads. A brawny man jumped upon 
the platform and, pulling his coat sleeves up to 
his elbows, shouted: 'I can't stop! Three 
times three more cheers for our next President, 
Abe Lincoln!' A full-length portrait of the 
candidate was produced upon the platform. 
Mr. Greeley telegraphed to the New York 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 103 

Tribune: 'There was never another such scene 
in America.' 

"Chicago went wild. One hundred guns 
were fired from the top of the Tremont House. 
At night the city was in a blaze of glory. Bon- 
fires, processions, torchlight, fireworks, illumi- 
nations and salutes filled the air with noise and 
the eye with beauty. 'Honest Old Abe' was 
the utterance of every man in the streets. The 
Illinois delegation before it separated 'resolved' 
that the millennium had come." 

The scenes of joy and enthusiasm in Chi- 
cago were duplicated in every city and town in 
Illinois. They had all come to look upon the 
tall Springfield lawyer as a personal friend. 
In Springfield the town gave itself up to cele- 
bration. A salute of one hundred guns was 
fired. 

Meanwhile, what of "Honest Old Abe" 
himself? He had not gone to the convention, 
but remained quietly at home. It is doubtful, 
however, whether he could transact much busi- 
ness of his own in those trying days. He was 
talking to a friend in the street, when a boy 
came dashing up to him with the message that 



104 FAMOUS AMERICANS 

he was nominated. Lincoln glanced at it, then 
thrust the paper in his pocket, saying : 

"There is a little woman down the street who 
will be pleased to know about this. I think I 
will go and tell her." 



XII 

A RED-HOT ELECTION 

The presidential election in that year, 1860, 
has been spoken of ever since as one of the 
most exciting events in our nation's history. 
The hullabaloo which greeted Lincoln's nom- 
ination in Chicago was but a foretaste of the 
days to come. The whole country seemed to 
be on beam ends. Everybody recognized that 
now at last they were going to settle the ques- 
tion of slavery, one way or another, forever. 

So divided were people's opinions, both 
North and South, that no less than four parties 
put out candidates. One was for compromise 
with the slave states; another was for letting 
them settle their own affairs; while a third 
tried to ignore the question of slavery alto- 
gether ! Only the party which nominated Lin- 
coln came out flat-f ootedly against slavery. It 
was him against the field, but the fact that the 
field was split up added greatly to his chances 
of election. 

Lincoln himself stayed at home, and did no 

105 



106 FAMOUS AMERICANS 

campaigning other than an occasional speech 
to some visiting delegation. But his adherents 
were by no means idle. Prominent men of the 
North — among them Seward and Chase, who 
had been defeated by him for the nomination 
— went campaigning through the country. 
Clubs, called the "Wide-Awake Boys," were 
organized in nearly every city and town of the 
North. One of their specialties was torchlight 
parades. Those were the days of the dripping 
kerosene torch, and many a good suit was 
ruined in the cause ! The marches would pro- 
ceed in a zigzag line in imitation of a rail fence. 
They would carry fence rails, and banners with 
pictures of "Honest Abe" and "The Rail- 
Splitter." In Springfield they held a monster 
parade in August, with Wide- Awake Clubs 
from points two hundred or more miles away. 
They marched past Lincoln's door 75,000 
strong — a line eight miles long! 

Meanwhile, Douglas, Lincoln's old-time 
rival, was not idle. He also had been nom- 
inated for president by one wing of the 
Democratic Party, and he traveled through the 
South speaking eloquently and winning many 
votes. Down there excitement ran no less 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 107, 

high. "Anything to beat Lincoln!" was the 
cry. Leaders openly predicted that if Lincoln 
were elected, the Southern States would with- 
draw from the Union. Douglas himself did 
not advocate this. While he preached States' 
Rights, he still hoped that the Union might be 
held together by compromise. 

Election Day brought the crisis to a head. 
Lincoln was elected, receiving a total of 
1,857,610 votes. Douglas, his nearest rival, re- 
ceived 1,291,574 votes; Breckenridge, 850,082; 
and Bell, 646,124. Lincoln's electoral vote was 
180, while that of the other three combined 
was 123. But the election had been sectional. 
Lincoln's votes were all north of the Mason 
and Dixon's line. Fifteen Southern States 
gave him no electoral vote; and nine did not 
give him a single popular vote ! It was indeed 
a house divided against itself. But while the 
result was disappointing to Lincoln, from this 
standpoint, it made him all the more deter- 
mined to hold the Union together at any cost. 

"We won't leave the Union, and they 
shan't!" he declared in one of his speeches. 

The thrill of actually being elected President 
— his boyhood's dream come true — vanished 



108 FAMOUS AMERICANS 

before the stern realities which he now faced. 
No sooner was the vote counted, and Lincoln 
declared elected, than the Southern States 
made good their threat to secede. South Caro- 
lina was the first, withdrawing formally from 
the Union in December — only a few weeks 
after the election. Her example was followed 
by Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, 
Louisiana, and Texas. Delegates from these 
States met at Montgomery, Alabama, and 
organized the Confederate States of America. 
They chose Jefferson Davis for President, and 
Alexander H. Stephens for Vice-President. 

Meanwhile, Lincoln could do nothing to 
prevent this movement. Although elected, he 
had not yet taken his seat. The retiring Pres- 
ident, Buchanan, was unwilling to move on so 
momentous a question, during his last few 
weeks in office. Many Northern men, in fact, 
among whom was Horace Greeley, voiced the 
opinion that the Southern States were within 
their rights in seceding. More than once a 
similar movement had been contemplated by a 
Northern state, and this policy was one of the 
chief principles of the Abolitionists. The Con- 
stitution itself was silent on the matter. It had 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 109 

been formed by a voluntary union of sovereign 
states. 

So let us not be too harsh in our judgment 
of the South, in its act of secession. 

With Lincoln, however, there could be no 
halfway measures. He had made his attitude 
perfectly plain all along. In a letter written 
at this time, he says : 

"My opinion is, that no State can in any 
way lawfully get out of the Union without the 
consent of the others ; and that it is the duty of 
the President and other government func- 
tionaries to run the machine as it is." 

Meanwhile the home of the President-elect 
was like a besieged fortress. Hundreds came 
to see him, urging him to do this, that, or the 
other thing. No two seemed to agree. Thou- 
sands of letters and telegrams poured in upon 
him — some praising him, some 'blaming him, 
some threatening him. He held public recep- 
tions in the Governor's room, in the Capitol at 
Springfield. Again he would lock himself in, 
to work over his inaugural address ; or to close 
up his law practice. 

Pointing to the sign hanging over his office 
door, he said, one day, to Herndon, his partner: 



110 FAMOUS AMERICANS 

"Let it hang there, won't you? If I live I'm 
coming back some time, and then we'll go right 
on practicing law as if nothing had happened." 

Herndon gripped his hand. "All right, 
Lincoln," he said; "I never hope to have an- 
other partner like you. That shingle will hang 
there undisturbed." 

Lincoln also paid a visit to his aged step- 
mother, and their leave-taking was affecting. 
His father had been dead ten years. He never 
lived to see his son reach national fame. But 
Lincoln had never been drawn to his father, 
who did not understand him, as he was to 
this second mother, who did. She was 
immensely proud of her famous son, but also 
greatly alarmed for his safety. She had heard 
that there had been threats made against his 
life — as indeed there had — and she was afraid 
that she would never see him again. 

When Lincoln boarded the train at Spring- 
field on that memorable day in February, 1861, 
to go to Washington, his friends clustered 
around his coach for a final handshake and 
word. His little parting talk to them was 
almost like a prayer. This is what he said : 

"My Friends : No one, not in my situation, 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 111 

can appreciate my feeling of sadness at this 
parting. To this place, and the kindness of 
these people, I owe everything. Here I have 
lived a quarter of a century and have passed 
from a young to an old man. Here my chil- 
dren have been born, and one is buried. I now 
leave, not knowing when or whether ever I 
may return, with a task before me greater than 
that which rested upon Washington. Without 
the assistance of that Divine Being who ever 
attended him, I cannot succeed. With that 
assistance I cannot fail. Trusting in Him, 
who can go with me, and remain with you, and 
be everywhere for good, let us confidently hope 
that all will yet be well. To His care com- 
mending you, as I hope in your prayers you 
will commend me, I bid you an affectionate 
farewell." 

One other incident of his inaugural journey 
is especially worth calling to mind. Among 
Lincoln's many correspondents after he was 
elected president was a little girl named Grace 
Bedell. Her father was a Republican, her 
two brothers Democrats, but she followed her 
father's lead and was an enthusiastic adherent 
of Lincoln, At that time, as all during his 



112 FAMOUS AMERICANS 

early manhood, Lincoln was clean-shaven. 
She studied his pictures during the campaign, 
and decided in her childish heart that this was 
the reason why her brothers were against him. 
If he only had a growth of whiskers, like her 
father, she was sure that her brothers would 
vote for him! 

So possessed was she with this idea that she 
wrote him very frankly about it, asking him if 
he couldn't let his whiskers grow. Then feel- 
ing afraid that she had taken the time of a 
very big and busy man, she ended her letter 
by saying: 

"If you have no time to answer my letter, 
will you allow your little girl to reply for you?" 

Perhaps her scoffing brothers had put doubt 
into the childish heart. Of course, the presi- 
dent-elect was too busy to write to a little girl! 
But anxiously she watched the mails for a 
reply — and sure enough, it came. Her trem- 
bling fingers tore open the letter, and this is 
what it said: 

"Springfield, Illinois, 
"October 19, 1860. 
"My dear little Miss: 

"Your very agreeable letter of the fifteenth 
is received. I regret the necessity of saying I 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 113 

have no daughter. I have three sons; one 
seventeen; one nine, and one seven years of 
age. They, with their mother, constitute the 
whole family. As to whiskers, having never 
worn any, do you think people would call it a 
piece of silly affectation, if I should begin 

now? 

"Your very sincere well-wisher, 

"A Lincoln." 

It so happened that on the journey to 
Washington, the train stopped for a few 
minutes at the town where the little girl lived. 
Lincoln, with his mind busied with constant 
speech-making on this trip, and meeting thou- 
sands of people, still remembered the incident, 

and said: 

"I have a little correspondent in this place. 

I would like to meet her.' , 

"What is her name?" inquired the people 

near by. 

"Grace Bedell," he answered. 

The crowd began to call, "Grace Bedell! Is 
Grace Bedell present?" 

And soon far back in the rear the throng 
began to make way for a very timid, but very 
excited little girl who came forward. And 
how radiantly happy she was, as she reached 



114 FAMOUS AMERICANS 

the steps of the President's car, when that 
great man bent down and took her up in his 
arms and kissed her blushing cheeks ! 

"See, my dear," he said. "I have taken your 
advice and begun to grow a beard!" 

At Columbus, after a short speech, sucK was 
the delight of the crowd that the President- 
elect was almost mobbed. An eye witness 
thus recalls the scene: "People plunged at his 
arms with frantic enthusiasm, and all the in- 
finite variety of shakes, from the wild and irre- 
pressible pump-handle movement to the dead 
grip, was executed upon the devoted dexter 
and sinister of the President. Some glanced 
at his face as they grasped his hand; others 
invoked the blessings of heaven upon him; 
others with hats crushed over their eyes seized 
his hands in a convulsive grasp, and passed on 
as if they had not the remotest idea who, what, 
or where they were!" 

Lincoln stopped at several cities along the 
way to make short speeches. He urged the 
preservation of the Union at any cost, but 
never did he make any bitter remarks against 
the South. This had been true of his whole 
campaign. He hated slavery as an institution, 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 115 

but he never made personal or vindictive 
attacks. 

Nevertheless, threats against his own safety- 
continued, and he yielded to the entreaties of 
friends and did not go straight through to 
Washington as planned. A plot against his 
life had been discovered in Baltimore, so he 
returned to Philadelphia and entered Wash- 
ington quietly by another train. 



XIII 

A CAPTAIN IN A STORM 

The new captain of the Ship of State took 
command during a storm. Or, as Emerson 
put it, "The new pilot was hurried to the helm 
in a tornado." 

As we have already seen, he faced a divided 
nation. The Southern Confederacy was an 
accomplished fact. How should he deal with 
it? The whole world held its breath and lis- 
tened to his inaugural message. 

That message did not equivocate. It stated 
in clear, simple words the new President's 
position. But there still was no rancor or 
hatred. Lincoln never forgot that he himself 
was from the South, and he hailed those of the 
South as brothers, not enemies. But his atti- 
tude, w T hile friendly, was firm. 

"In your hands, my dissatisfied fellow-coun- 
trymen, and not in mine, is the momentous 
issue of civil war. The Government will not 
assail you. You can have no conflict without 
being yourselves the aggressors. . . . We are 

116 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 117 

not enemies, but friends. We must not be 
enemies. Though passion may have strained, 
it must not break our bonds of affection. The 
mystic cords of memory, stretching from every 
battlefield and patriot grave to every living 
heart and hearthstone all over this broad land, 
will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when 
again touched, as surely they will be, by the 
better angels of our nature." 

These were the closing words of an address 
which was delivered with almost pathetic 
earnestness. Lincoln was, in fact, pleading 
with the South. Then Chief Justice Taney 
stepped forward, and the new President took 
solemn oath to preserve, protect, and defend 
the Constitution of his country. 

Abraham Lincoln was now President of the 
United States. 

Among the first to congratulate him was 
Senator Douglas. His rival had been one of a 
small guard of honor who escorted him from 
the Senate Chamber, and had held Lincoln's 
hat for him during the inaugural address. 
Now in the hearty handclasp all differences 
were forgotten, and Douglas promised — and 
afterwards gave him — his staunch friendship. 



118 FAMOUS AMERICANS 

One of Lincoln's first official acts was the 
selection of his Cabinet. William H. Seward, 
who had been his closest political rival at 
Chicago, accepted the post of Secretary of 
State; Simon Cameron, Secretary of War; 
Salmon P. Chase, Secretary of the Treasury; 
Gideon Welles, Secretary of the Navy; Caleb 
B. Smith, Secretary of the Interior; Mont- 
gomery Blair, Postmaster General, and 
Edward Bates, Attorney-General. 

These selections did not entirely meet the 
approval of his party, as they were of different 
political creeds. But Lincoln replied: 

"The times are too grave and perilous for 
ambitious schemes and personal rivalries. I 
need the aid of all of these men. They enjoy 
the confidence of their several States and sec- 
tions, and they will strengthen the adminis- 
tration." 

He was now, as at all times, ready to sink 
his personal feelings in the question of per- 
sonal associates, for the larger good. More 
than one of these men had been rivals, and not 
always friendly rivals, of his. Seward for a 
time was openly scornful of Lincoln's ability. 
He regarded him as a back-country lawyer 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 119 

with no experience in national affairs. At 
first, Seward said that he would not take the 
State portfolio. Later when he reconsidered 
and accepted, it was in a spirit of condescen- 
sion to his chief. Not many days after taking 
office, Seward sent Lincoln a letter entitled, 
"Some Thoughts for the President's Consider- 
ation." The tone of this letter was so pre- 
sumptuous that Lincoln forebore to reply in 
writing. It, in effect, advised the President to 
be guided by him, Seward, if he was not to 
make mistakes. But the next time Seward 
came into his office Lincoln handed the letter 
back to its writer quietly, with the comment: 

"I guess you didn't mean all of that, 
Seward." 

The Secretary of State recognized, after 
this interview, that Lincoln was his own mas- 
ter; and served him in the stormy days to come 
with patriotic zeal. 

Lincoln's ability to turn his critics and 
enemies into devoted friends was constantly 
illustrated during the next four years of war. 
It was one of the secrets of his success during 
the most trying period of the nation's history. 
To cite only one other of many striking illus- 



120 FAMOUS AMERICANS 

trations — the personnel of his cabinet was 
changed, after a few months, to make Edwin 
M. Stanton Secretary of War. Stanton had 
been Attorney General in Buchanan's Cabi- 
net, and was one of the most outspoken and 
scornful of Lincoln's critics. He doubtless 
still remembered the ungainly lawyer who had 
been shoved into the background in the 
Cincinnati law case. The President was 
well aware of this, but it did not deter him 
from inviting Stanton to take this highly 
important position as head of the War Depart- 
ment. 

Lincoln knew that Stanton was one of the 
ablest men he could pick — which was proved 
by after events — and he never let the fact that 
Stanton had been hostile to him and had ridi- 
culed him openly, deter him a moment from 
inviting Stanton to become one of his official 
family. The offer came as a complete surprise, 
and Stanton's acceptance was no less sur- 
prising. 

When asked why he did it, Stanton replied 
bluntly, "I will help make Abe Lincoln Pres- 
ident of the United States." 

And he did. 



XIV 

THE FIRST DAYS OF WAR 

Not for long was the new administration 
allowed to continue in peace. Only a month 
went by— and then came the opening guns! 

Lincoln had told the South in his inaugural 
address that if there was to be a fight, they in 
the South would have to start it. They evi- 
dently took him at his word. 

On April 12, 1861, Fort Sumter, on the 
coast at Charleston, South Carolina, was fired 
upon, and the next day it surrendered. This 
was the first blow of the bloody Civil War, 
which for the next four years was to engulf 
our country. The story of this great conflict 
has been often told. We will not attempt to 
trace its events here, except to show its reac- 
tion upon the President himself. 

Lincoln at once issued a call for 75,000 men 
to "suppress the rebellion." It was believed 
that the prompt despatch of Federal troops to 
Charleston might quell the disturbance. But 

121 



122 FAMOUS AMERICANS 

the whole South was aflame, and the Pres- 
ident's call for troops added fuel to the fire. 
Four more States threw in their fortunes with 
the seven which already formed the Confed- 
eracy. And besides these there were three or 
four "Border States," such as Maryland, Ken- 
tucky, and Missouri, which did not join either 
side, but were even more dangerous because 
of that fact. 

It did not take Lincoln and his advisers long 
to realize that they were not facing a local 
rebellion. It was a war — and the 75,000 
troops first called for would be a mere hand- 
ful. The call had been for three months only 
— not long enough to season them for active 
duty. 

The North awakened slowly to the danger. 
Recruiting camps sprang up, and men began 
drilling. But many said, "Oh, the trouble will 
be over long before I get there !" It was the 
same remark which was often heard at the 
outbreak of the World War of our own day; 
but wars have an unhappy faculty of persist- 
ing — especially when they have long smol- 
dered under the surface. 

Mass-meetings were held in churches, 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 123 

schools, and public squares to arouse the peo- 
ple. It is interesting to note that one of the 
most active campaigners was Senator Doug- 
las. He was tireless. On the very same plat- 
forms in Illinois, where he had met Lincoln 
and had told the people to let each State decide 
for itself, he now preached Lincoln's famous 
text, "The Union must be preserved at all 
costs !" Douglas was sincere in this change of 
heart; and so indefatigable was he, that he 
literally wore himself out speechmaking. He 
was taken suddenly ill, and died before the 
first battle of the war was fought. 

Meanwhile, what of Lincoln himself at this 
time ? We cannot do better than peep into his 
office in company with an eye-witness (Con- 
gressman I. N. Arnold) , who thus describes it : 

"The room which Lincoln used as an office 
was on the second floor of the White House. 
It was about twenty-five by forty feet in size. 
In the center, on the west, was a large, white 
marble fireplace, with big, old-fashioned brass 
andirons, and a large and high brass fender. 
A wood fire was burning in cool weather. The 
furniture of this room consisted of a large oak 
table covered with cloth, and it was around this 



124 FAMOUS AMERICANS 

table that the Cabinet sat when it held its meet- 
ings. Near the end of the table, and between 
the windows, was another table, on the west 
side of which the President sat in a large arm- 
chair. The only books usually found in this 
room were the Bible, the United States 
Statutes, and a copy of Shakespeare. A bell- 
cord within reach of the President's hand 
extended to the Secretary's office. A mes- 
senger, who stood at the door, took in the 
cards and names of visitors. 

"Here, in this plain room, Lincoln spent 
most of his time while President. Here he 
received everyone, from the Chief Justice and 
Lieutenant-General to the private soldier and 
humblest citizen. Sometimes there would be a 
crowd awaiting their turn. While thus wait- 
ing, the ringing laugh of Mr. Lincoln would 
be heard by the waiting and impatient crowd. 
Here, day after day, often from early morning 
to late at night, he sat, listened, talked, and 
decided. He was patient, just, considerate, 
and hopeful. The people came to him as to a 
father. He saw everyone, and many wasted 
his precious time. Governors, Senators, Con- 
gressmen, officers, clergymen, bankers, mer- 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 125 

chants — all classes approached him with fa- 
miliarity. This incessant labor, the study of 
the great problems he had to decide, the worry 
of constant importunity, the quarrels of the 
officers of the army, the care, anxiety, and 
responsibility of his position, wore upon his 
vigorous frame." 

Lincoln himself realized that too much of 
his time was taken up with petty details, such 
as listening to office-seekers. He said, "I am 
like a man so busy in letting rooms at one end 
of his house, that he cannot stop to put out 
the fire that is burning at the other !" 

Not the least of his pressing troubles were 
his relations with foreign nations. After the 
South declared war, it looked as though Eng- 
land and France might side with her. Seward 
wrote a despatch to England which was so 
dictatorial that it might easily have precipi- 
tated matters, although he felt that the United 
States had just grievance. Lincoln took his 
despatch and toned it down, at the next Cabi- 
net meeting, until it was more tactful, without 
receding from our position. Seward was 
broad-gauge enough to recognize the improve- 
ment. He saw that Lincoln was a master at 



126 FAMOUS AMERICANS 

statecraft, and he remarked later, "The Presi- 
dent is the best of us all." 

Meanwhile both sides were "itching" for a 
fight. The Northern troops poured into 
Washington from every direction, until the 
whole city resembled an armed camp. The 
Southern forces advanced to meet it, and came 
so close that they menaced the capital itself. 

At a place called Bull Run, in Virginia, a 
few miles south of Washington, the opposing 
armies met. Many public officials and other 
sightseers followed the army down from the 
city, to see the fight. It was almost like a gala 
occasion. But, alas ! The untrained Northern 
troops were badly routed. They turned and 
fled in mad haste back to Washington, and 
their flight was encumbered by the wagons and 
impedimenta of the sightseers. If the South- 
ern army had pressed its advantage, it is likely 
that they would have seized Washington. 

In the North all was dismay and confusion. 
The new army had been scattered like chaff 
before the wind. Lincoln had to listen to so 
many excuses from army officers, that he 
remarked drily, "I see — we whipped the enemy 
and then ran away from him!" 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 127 

Lincoln had no patience with excuses. He 
went to work at once to build a real army — 
changing the personnel of officers, calling for 
half a million volunteers, and half a billion dol- 
lars. This time Congress responded — and the 
country as well. The entire North became one 
vast drilling ground, overnight. The farmer 
forsook his plow, the mechanic his tools, the 
clerk his counter. A marching song was heard 
which constantly swelled in volume — 

"We are coming, Father Abraham, five 
hundred thousand strong!" 



XV 

THE COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF 

Lincoln wisely decided that the defeat at 
Bull Run was due to the greenness of the 
troops. They needed more training. So he 
placed the command in the hands of General 
George B. McClellan, an experienced drill- 
master. 

All that summer and fall of 1861, the new 
commander worked with his army. He did his 
task intelligently and well; and presently his 
troops drilled and behaved like seasoned sol- 
diers. Men and supplies poured in daily, and 
every request made by McClellan was granted. 
But as the weeks and months went by, and 
nothing was done except drill, the country 
began to get impatient. They wanted to see 
the sting of the defeat at Bull Run wiped out. 
Of course, McClellan was acting cautiously, in 
order to prevent a recurrence of the same blun- 

128 



'ABRAHAM LINCOLN 129 

der ; but people thought he leaned too much on 
the side of caution. 

Even the patient President, who often 
visited the camp across the Potomac, let fall a 
significant hint one day: 

"If McClellan is through with the Army, 
I'd like to borrow it for the afternoon !" 

Again one day when Lincoln visited the 
camp, and the general kept him waiting for 
half an hour, an indignant friend urged the 
President to resent such presumption. But 
Lincoln only replied : 

"I will hold McClellan's horse, if he will only 
give us a victory." 

Seeing that McClellan was taking his own 
time, Lincoln began quietly to exercise his own 
powers as Commander-in-Chief of the Army. 
Other sections of it were in the field, stretched 
clear across to the Mississippi, and beginning 
a cautious movement southward. Lincoln be- 
gan to get into personal touch with all these 
divisions. The telegraph office was across the 
street from the White House, and he insti- 
tuted the practice of slipping quietly over there 
in the evenings, and often remaining there 
half the night reading the stack of telegrams 



130 FAMOUS AMERICANS 

on military matters. He found out all he could 
about the men in charge. For example, he 
began to notice the brilliant work in the West 
of an unknown officer, U. S. Grant. He 
studied maps of each strategic point. He read 
books on tactics. He began to send little words 
of encouragement or of criticism. Every 
officer in that long chain which the North was 
seeking to stretch around the South soon began 
to feel that the eye of the President was upon 
him personally — as indeed it was. 

In the beginning of the war the Confed- 
erates, as the Southerners were called, had the 
best of it. Their generals were men of dash 
and impetuosity — always willing to "take a 
chance. " "Stonewall" Jackson was famed for 
his surprise attacks. The commanding gen- 
eral, Robert E. Lee, was a past master in tac- 
tics and strategy. Against such men as these, 
McClellan's caution made a poor show. While 
beloved of his men, the country at large began 
to turn against him. They called him "the Vir- 
ginia creeper." 

Lincoln constantly tried to instil into his 
officers the snap and dash which were making 
the Confederates so successful. Once when 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 131 

General Lee had stretched his army out across 
Virginia in the endeavor to protect as many 
points as possible, Lincoln telegraphed to Gen- 
eral Hooker, then commanding the Army of 
the Potomac : 

"If the head of Lee's army is at Martins- 
burg, and the tail of it on the plank road be- 
tween Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville, 
the animal must be very slim somewhere. 
Could you not break him?" 

Lincoln was very anxious for McClellan to 
march upon Richmond, the capital of the Con- 
federacy, but the winter wore away and still 
aie general made excuses. Finally Lincoln 
lost patience, and asserted his own authority. 
He ordered a general advance of all the armies, 
and the date set was Washington's Birthday — 
February 22, 1862. The entire North ap- 
plauded. Now it looked at last as though the 
war was going on. 

While other armies took the field, still 
McClellan lingered. It was actually April 
when he set his force of one hundred thousand 
men in motion ; and even then he did not march 
straight across country to Richmond, as Lin- 
coln advised. He took a roundabout route, 



132 FAMOUS AMERICANS 

called the Peninsular Campaign, because he 
went down the Potomac to the sea. But in so 
doing he left the way open for an attack on 
Washington; and Lincoln knew that Lee was 
too shrewd a general to miss seeing such an 
opening. Lincoln consequently ordered back 
a part of the army; and when McClellan's 
campaign came to an inglorious close, he 
blamed the President for "interfering"! 

This year of 1862 was one of doubt and dis- 
couragement to Lincoln and the North. There 
were only two or three bright spots to relieve 
the gloom. One was the victory by sea at New 
Orleans, of the Union ships under Farragut. 
Another was the capture of Fort Donelson on 
the Mississippi by Grant, whose memorable 
message to the besieged of "unconditional sur- 
render"! went ringing through the North, 
and caused him to be nicknamed Uncondi- 
tional Surrender Grant — a name which proved 
prophetic. 

However, in Virginia — at Washington's 
backdoor, so to speak — there was one defeat 
after another. Lincoln tried first McClellan, 
then Burnside, then Hooker, but all were 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 133 

unsuccessful in stopping Lee. It is true that 
McClellan won a victory at Antietam, but he 
failed to follow up his advantage, and Lee 
withdrew his army intact, later inflicting a 
crushing defeat upon the Union forces at 
Fredericksburg. This was near the end of that 
fateful year. 

Lincoln became at times terribly depressed 
over the situation. It looked as though noth- 
ing could save the Union, and of course many 
people blamed him as the visible head. His 
path was beset with difficulties. His officers 
wrangled; his Cabinet wrangled; but by al- 
most superhuman efforts he kept both ma- 
chines in action. 

But when he was alone, he sometimes seemed 
to shrivel up with misery. Gone was the merry 
hearted boy who could always joke and laugh; 
and in his stead sat the big, huddled-up figure 
of a man who bore a nation's burdens. Lincoln 
had inherited a streak of melancholia which 
often beset him. Now he tried a strange anti- 
dote. A friend one day found him reading 
some of the humorous stories of Artemas 
Ward, and chuckling over them. 



134 FAMOUS AMERICANS 

"Why, Mr. Lincoln!" the friend took it upon 
himself to say; "can you find time to laugh, 
when the country is in such straits?" 

"If I didn't find time to laugh once in a 
while," was the reply, "I believe I should go 
crazy!" 



XVI 

Lincoln's home life 

No story of Lincoln would be complete 
without some mention of his home life, both at 
Springfield and Washington. 

Mr. and Mrs. Lincoln lived simply and 
quietly in a frame dwelling in Springfield, 
neither better nor worse than the homes of their 
neighbors. She was a careful housekeeper and 
manager, and undoubtedly aided her husband 
to acquire much of the polish which was his as 
President. But Lincoln never outgrew many 
of the habits which were his from pioneer days, 
and which must have tried his wife sorely. He 
was always careless as to his attire, and this 
was the more noticeable from his great stature. 

Even after he rose to prominence in Spring- 
field it was no unusual sight to see him chop- 
ping his own wood, carrying water, going 
downtown with the basket on his arm, to mar- 

135 



136 FAMOUS AMERICANS 

ket, or sweeping off the front porch. He did 
anything his hands found to do — and he 
enjoyed doing it. And he was always ready 
to exchange a "howdy" with a neighbor over 
the back fence. These same simple manners 
he later took into the White House, to the 
despair of his wife and of punctilious officials. 
But Lincoln was always his simple, unaffected 
self. 

As children came into their home, he proved 
a devoted father. Perhaps he remembered his 
own lonely childhood, and resolved to make up 
the deficit to his own children. There were 
three boys, Robert, Willie, Thomas, or "Tad," 
and in their babyhood he might often be seen 
wheeling their carriage tirelessly up and down 
the block in front of their home. As they grew 
into childhood, he would romp delightedly with 
them in all their games; or sprawl out at full 
length under the shade of some tree and tell 
them Indian stories. Lincoln loved all chil- 
dren, and many are the pleasing stories told in 
this regard. 

After the Lincoln family removed to the 
White House you may well believe that the 
boys had lots of fun. Robert, however, was 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 137 

several years older than the rest, and was in 
college. Willie was ten and Tad was eight at 
this time. Each of them had a pet goat and a 
wagon, and they went driving all over the lawn 
and out into Pennsylvania Avenue. It is even 
related that they drove into the White House, 
and interrupted more than one solemn conclave 
there. But the echoes of their merry voices 
must have been an agreeable antidote to more 
than one anxious heart, in that trying time. 
Certainly Lincoln himself did not want to curb 
their spirits. He let them do pretty much as 
they pleased. More than once he shocked some 
dignified Senator by getting down on hands 
and knees, and joining in their sports. 

The year 1862 was one of the darkest in 
Lincoln's whole life. The Union army was 
suffering reverse after reverse in this second 
year of the war. And just at this time, Willie 
Lincoln sickened and died. The father's grief 
was terrible to see, although its outward signs 
were quickly suppressed. Added to his 
frequent spells of melancholia, and the worry 
over the war, it required his most heroic efforts 
to preserve a courageous front during this 
trying year. 



138 FAMOUS AMERICANS 

Because of the loss of Willie, Lincoln 
spoiled Tad more than ever. But the boy- 
became his constant companion, his shadow. 
When Lincoln took a trip to one of the army- 
camps, Tad was sure to go along, and he was 
a great favorite with the soldiers. 

Even Secretary Stanton, the stern head of 
the War Department, unbent when Tad came 
into the room. One day he actually appointed 
the lad a lieutenant in the regular army. Tad 
accepted the appointment with due solemnity, 
and insisted upon having a uniform made, 
chevrons and all. He drilled the special squad 
of soldiers detailed to guard the White House, 
but once when they did not quite suit him, he 
dismissed the lot of them, and set about recruit- 
ing a new guard from the gardeners around the 
grounds. 

At another time, Tad decided to go in busi- 
ness for himself, and invested his small capital 
in cakes, apples, and popcorn. He set up a 
stand just inside the gate to the White House 
grounds, and proceeded to hawk his wares in 
approved style. As the Senators, Congress- 
men, diplomats, or army officers came by, they 
recognized the small merchant and willingly 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 139 

dropped a coin into his waiting hat. He trans- 
acted business nearly all morning before his 
scandalized mother got wind of it, and closed 
up the shop. But by that time the hat jingled 
merrily with coins. 

It is interesting to note that Lincoln never 
sat with his family for a portrait, and that the 
only member who was ever photographed with 
him was Tad. Brady, the famous war photog- 
rapher, caught the two together one day — Tad 
standing at his father's knee, and both absorbed 
in the pages of a book. It was not a posed 
picture; the photographer snapped them 
unawares; and the result is one of the most 
pleasing and familiar of the Lincoln portraits. 

Mr. John Hay, who as a young man was 
one of Lincoln's private secretaries at this time, 
gives us some amusing stories of Tad and his 
father. 

"Let him run," said the latter. "He has 
time enough to learn his letters and get pokey. 
Bob was just such a little rascal, and now he is 
a very decent boy." 

Tad was always "busy." He liked to get up 
things. Once he organized a minstrel show 
among some of his playmates. It was called 



140 FAMOUS AMERICANS 

"The Black Statue," and was held in one of 
the upstairs rooms of the White House! A 
penny was the entrance fee, and it may well be 
believed that there was a crowd on hand to see 
the show. 

When Lincoln rode in an open carriage 
down Pennsylvania Avenue to the Capitol for 
the second inaugural, Tad was in the seat 
beside him. He was, in a sense, the mascot of 
the administration. It seemed as though, after 
the loss of Willie, Lincoln could not bear to let 
this other boy out of his sight. 

Mascot or not, we know that Tad Lincoln 
did his bit toward winning the war, in his love 
and devotion to his over-burdened father. 



XVII 

THE EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION 

"Gentlemen,' ' said Lincoln one day to the 
members of his Cabinet, "I have called you 
together to-day to consider a matter of very 
grave importance. But before getting down to 
business, I would like to read you a funny 
yarn I ran across, the other day." 

He produced a small book from the tail 
pocket of his voluminous coat, and waved it at 
them. 

"Ever read anything by Artemas Ward?" 
he asked. "He certainly is a droll fellow!" 

The Cabinet officers looked around at each 
other blankly. "Queer time for a joke!" they 
thought. Here was the nation facing a des- 
perate crisis, and the President called them to- 
gether to read a joke to them! 

But Lincoln opened the pages of his joke 
book as calmly as if they were all out on a 
picnic. 

141 



142 FAMOUS AMERICANS 

"Listen to this one," he said; and proceeded 
to read a short "side-splitter." Seward smiled 
in a dignified manner. Chase indulged in a 
chuckle. Others laughed more or less con- 
strainedly. Only Stanton sat erect and de- 
fiant; he never understood this mood of 
Lincoln's. 

The President laid aside his book; and as it 
hit the table he straightened up to his towering 
height of six feet, four inches. Gone was the 
merry twinkle in his eye, and his face took on a 
dignified earnestness. 

"Gentlemen," he said, "I am about to ask 
your consent to an action of far-reaching 
import. As you know, my fight from the first 
has been against slavery. Now I believe the 
time has come to declare the slaves free." 

Then he went on to outline the advantages 
in a military as well as moral way, of such 
an action. After much debate, the Cabinet 
agreed to his point of view, and the famous 
document now known as the Emancipation 
Proclamation was given to the world. It 
stated that on the first day of January, 1863, 
all the slaves in States in rebellion should be 
"then, thenceforward and forever free." It 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 143 

also stated that the United States would 
"recognize and maintain" this freedom. 

The country at large received this procla- 
mation with varying emotions. Of course, in 
the South it was laughed at. "If Lincoln 
wants the slaves, let him come and get them!" 
they said; and prepared to fight harder than 
ever. Many in the North disapproved of 
emancipation — at least until the issues of war 
were settled. "We did not go into this thing to 
free slaves, but to preserve the Union," they 
said. Many soldiers deserted, on this account, 
and there was much murmuring in ranks. The 
possibility of accepting the black man as an 
equal struck them with dismay. 

The Border States — those neither on the 
Northern nor the Southern side — were not 
affected by the proclamation. By its terms 
they could go on holding slaves if they desired. 
So altogether, it was a mixed-up business, and 
no man could foretell whether this move would 
be good or bad, from a political view. 

But the negroes themselves, as the news 
slowly seeped through to them, that they were 
really free, were wild with joy. They hailed 
Lincoln as their deliverer — a second Moses 



144 FAMOUS AMERICANS 

come to lead them out of the house of bondage 
and into the Promised Land. One old colored 
woman likened him to another great Bible 
character. She presented herself at the door 
of the White House one day, and waited 
patiently until the President should appear. 
When he finally did come out, he saw her 
standing there, and with his unvarying cour- 
tesy to high or low, he asked her if he could do 
anything for her. 

"I jes waitin' round to see Abraham de 
Second," she replied. 

"Abraham the Second?" he asked. "Why, 
who is that?" 

"Well, suh, de good book done tell us all 
about Abraham de First. But I wants to see 
Abraham de Second, de man dat set us all free 
— bress de Lawd!" 

"Well, here he is," answered the President — 
"such as he is !" 

The woman knelt down and a look of adora- 
tion came into her eyes. Without another 
word she began to cry, and seizing the hem of 
his coat she kissed it. 

Lincoln turned away hastily, and there were 
tears in his own eyes as he went down the 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 145 

street. Perhaps he thought of that other day 
in New Orleans when as a mere boy he had 
watched the buying and selling of human 
slaves, and had promised himself to "hit it 
hard." He had kept his word. 

No story of Lincoln would be complete with- 
out a glimpse of the tender heart he bore for 
all his soldiers — "his boys," as he called them. 
He was a frequent visitor at the army hospital 
in Washington, and many a sufferer was 
cheered by a word or handclasp. He visited 
them in the camps near the city, and would 
stop as readily to greet a private and ask how 
he was faring, as the highest officer. When 
the boys came through the city on furlough, it 
was a favorite practice of theirs to call at the 
White House ; and the President was never too 
busy to see them. 

He could not bear to see a soldier shot for 
dereliction of duty, and his constant pardons of 
offenses like desertion or sleeping at post got 
him into much hot water with Stanton and 
others of the War Department. They felt 
that his pardons would break down discipline. 

Once as he signed a pardon for a young sol- 



146 FAMOUS AMERICANS 

dier, sentenced to be shot for sleeping on senti- 
nel duty, he said : "I could not think of going 
into eternity with the blood of that poor young 
man on my hands. It is not to be wondered at 
that a boy raised on a farm, probably in the 
habit of going to bed at dark, should, when 
required to watch, fall asleep; and I cannot 
consent that he be shot for such an act." 

After the boy was reprieved he came in 
person to thank the President. Lincoln placed 
his hand on his shoulder, and said: "My boy, 
I am going to send you back to your regiment. 
But how are you going to pay my bill?" 

"I haven't much money, Mr. President, but 
I will do anything you say," stammered the 
soldier. 

"It is not money I want," said Lincoln; 
"but I want your promise that, come what 
may, you will never again shirk a duty. If 
when you come to die you can say, 'I have kept 
my promise,' then my bill will be paid." 

A few weeks later the young soldier was 
killed, fighting bravely at Fredericksburg. 
Next his heart was a photograph of Lincoln, 
and on it he had written: "God bless Presi- 
dent Lincoln." He had kept his promise. 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 147 

A Union officer relates this anecdote : "The 
first week of my command there were twenty- 
four deserters sentenced by court-martial to be 
shot, and the warrants for their execution were 
sent to the President to be signed. He refused. 
I went to Washington and had an interview. 
I said, 'Mr. President, unless these men are 
made an example of, the army itself is in dan- 
ger. Mercy to the few is cruelty to the many.' 
He replied, 'Mr. General, there are already 
too many weeping widows in the United 
States. For God's sake, don't ask me to add 
to the number, for I won't do it! 3 " 

His ready sympathy for "his boys" endeared 
him to them. They were ready to go through 
fire and water for him. On his visits to camp 
he did not disdain to pause and "swap a 
yarn." One joke which he picked up and was 
fond of relating in the dignified Stanton's pres- 
ence was to the effect that the latter on a tour 
of inspection in North Carolina was on a tug 
boat passing up a river, when the picket chal- 
lenged them. 

"Who goes there?" he asked. 

"The Secretary of War and Major-General 
Foster," was the reply. 



148 FAMOUS AMERICANS 

"We've got secretaries and generals enough 
up here already," was the reply. "Why don't 
you bring us up some hardtack?" 

On one visit to McClellan's camp, a big 
dress parade was planned. Lincoln was 
invited to ride the lines with the general, and 
accepted. The staff officers smiled in their 
sleeves at this, for McClellan was one of the 
finest horsemen in the army, and they fancied 
the President would cut a ridiculous figure 
beside him. A spirited black horse was 
brought to the President, but the moment he 
seized the reins the staff officers began to "take 
notice." He quieted the plunging animal with 
a word, and easily sprang into the saddle. 
Down between the lines they went, the Pres- 
ident managing his horse with one hand, riding 
easily, and returning the salutes. 

McClellan, on his own well-broken mount, 
led the way and finally paused near a group of 
big guns, which presently went off with a 
tremendous explosion. Then the bands struck 
up, "Hail to the Chief !" The soldiers cheered. 
The big black horse curvetted, as well he might. 
But there sat Lincoln, as though he and the 
horse were one — the bridle rein held in one 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 149 

hand, his silk hat in the other, smiling and 
acknowledging the salute. 

"Gosh! He sure can ride!" muttered one 
soldier. 

"He sure can," said another. "If we only 
had old Abe to lead us, something would 
happen!" 

And probably he was right. 



XVIII 

GETTYSBURG 

Lincoln tried, one after another, three gen- 
erals for the Army of the Potomac, but none 
of them was a match for General Lee. After 
the crushing defeat which the latter admin- 
istered to Burnside at Fredericksburg, the 
Confederates advanced across the Potomac 
into Pennsylvania. They were carrying the 
fight into the enemy's country. 

Lincoln removed Burnside and put Meade 
in command. His orders were terse. 

"Go get Lee!" was the word. 

Meade started in pursuit and overtook Lee 
at Gettysburg. The date was July 1, 1863— 
one of the most momentous in the annals of 
our nation. The Southern forces, flushed with 
victory, did not seek to avoid the combat, 
though they were outnumbered. This was not 
the first time they had met superior numbers of 

150 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 151 

Northern troops. The battle began on that 
July morning and for three days it raged. 
Back and forth surged the contending lines, 
high deeds of bravery being shown on both 
sides, and terrible was the slaughter. 

Back in Washington, the President fairly 
haunted the telegraph office. He could not 
wait for the messages to be decoded and relayed 
to him in due course. He sat alongside of the 
operator and himself deciphered the messages 
as they came in. During those three terrible 
days he scarcely stopped for sleep or food. By 
the end of the third day he was so utterly worn 
out, that Stanton took a hand. 

"Go home, Mr. President," he said gently 
but firmly. "Go home, and I myself will stay 
by the instrument and keep you advised." 

Lincoln, too tired to protest, went, and soon 
was sleeping as one dead to the world. 

About midnight, the clicker sounded the 
news that the Union forces had won the victory, 
and that Lee's army was in full retreat. Stan- 
ton seized the message, dashed across the street, 
went past the sentry at the White House door, 
and up the steps two at a time, and pounded on 
the door of Lincoln's room. 



152 FAMOUS AMERICANS 

"Who's there?" called the President. 

"Stanton!" was the reply. 

Lincoln bounded out of bed and without 
waiting to dress, opened the door, revealing, as 
Stanton afterwards said, a figure clad in the 
shortest nightshirt and sporting the longest 
pair of legs he ever saw. 

"We've won!" Stanton managed to gasp 
out, for he was short-winded from his run. 

He did not need to say more, for Lincoln 
had read the news in his face. Grabbing Stan- 
ton by the shoulders he danced madly with him 
around the room — and Stanton danced too! 
Then Lincoln sat down on a trunk and, still in 
his nightshirt, proceeded to study that precious 
telegram. 

"We've won!" he cried, echoing Stanton's 
call. "Meade's got him! Now if he will only 
follow Lee up and crush him, the war will be 
over in ninety days." 

But for some strange reason, Meade, like 
McClellan and the rest, did not follow up his 
advantage. True, his army was weary from 
three days of fighting, but it was still stronger 
than Lee's shattered columns. Even when Lee 
was forced to divide his troops to cross the 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 153 

Potomac, still Meade did not strike. And 
once in Virginia, Lee reformed his army. 

Some whispered that there was "polities" in 
Meade's inaction. Like McClellan, he was 
willing to "embarrass" the President, espe- 
cially since the Emancipation Proclamation, 
which had been severely criticized. We do not 
know to-day how much truth there was in such 
statements, but we do know that Meade held 
Lee in the hollow of his hand, and let him get 
away. 

Lincoln's first flush of enthusiasm over this 
victory gave way to despair. Was he never to 
find a general who could do things — carry 
them through to a finish? And he began to 
think of a certain "Unconditional Surrender" 
Grant who was still hammering away in the 
■V\r es t — aided and abetted by a dashing officer, 
Phil Sheridan. 

On the very day that the news of Gettysburg 
went broadcast to the nation, July 4, 1863 — 
and a great Fourth of July it was!— Grant 
telegraphed that the forts at Vicksburg, Miss- 
issippi had fallen before his troops. They held 
the key to the great river, and the "Father of 
Waters went unvexed to the sea." 



154 FAMOUS AMERICANS 

The news of these two victories fired the 
North with fresh hope. They silenced for the 
moment Lincoln's own critics — for he had 
borne the brunt of all the dissatisfaction, as 
head of the nation. They also put at rest the 
persistent rumors that England was going to 
recognize the Confederacy, which move had 
seemed imminent more than once. 

When Lincoln saw that Meade was not 
going to strike back at Lee, he called General 
Halleck, who was Grant's superior, from the 
West, to take charge of the Eastern forces. 
Grant himself he made Commander-in-Chief 
in the West. It was the first step to the 
supreme command of the L^nion forces which 
Grant later obtained, and which, as we all 
know, was to prove the final checkmate for 
Lee. Grant had many enemies, especially 
among the politicians at Washington. But 
when they came buzzing around Lincoln with 
their disparaging remarks, his only answer 
was, "I cannot spare this man. He fights!" 

Grant did fight. He took up affairs in the 
West with an energy and promptness which 
convinced Lincoln that he had found his man 
at last. Ordered to relieve the shut-in Union 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 155 

forces at Chattanooga, Grant promptly moved 
east and in the brilliant battle "above the 
clouds," at Lookout Mountain, split the South- 
ern armies in two. Then he sent Sherman on 
his march through Georgia to the sea. 

So the summer and fall of 1863 saw brighter 
skies for the Union than at any time since the 
war had started. In a spirit of thanksgiving 
as well as of devotion to the dead, a national 
cemetery was dedicated on the field of Gettys- 
burg, where so many thousands had laid down 
their lives. 

A multitude met on a gray November day 
to witness the dedication exercises. A large 
chorus of trained voices furnished the music; 
and Edward Everett, a brilliant New England 
orator, had been chosen as the speaker of 
the occasion. The President was expected to 
attend and would deliver "a few appro- 
priate remarks." Though pressed with official 
duties, Lincoln set out for Gettysburg at the 
appointed time, and, it is said, scribbled the 
few words of his "appropriate remarks" on a 
scrap of paper. 

For two hours the polished Everett held the 
attention of the audience, pouring forth all the 



156 FAMOUS AMERICANS 

eloquence and fire for which he was famous. 
It was a great address. The crowd applauded. 
The choir sang another song. And then the 
tall form of Lincoln arose, with his familiar 
"stovepipe" hat, and a long scarf around his 
shoulders, such as he often wore. 

In a voice trembling with emotion and yet 
gaining in clearness after the first words, he 
began to speak. Then after only two or three 
minutes, when the crowd had just begun to 
get keyed up to his message — he sat down 
again! 

The crowd was disappointed. "Is that all?" 
they asked each other. 

Secretary Seward was no less disappointed. 
He leaned over and whispered to Everett, "He 
has made a failure, and I am sorry for it. He 
is tired out. His speech does not do him 
justice." 

Lincoln himself, when he looked over that 
silent throng, felt that he had failed. He had 
not had time to prepare any special message, 
but he had tried to give them a few sentences 
straight from his heart and soul. 

And that was precisely what he had done. 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 157 

As soon as his "Gettysburg Address" was 
flashed to the world, people read it, and reread 
it. They have been reading and reciting it ever 
since, for it has been acclaimed a master- 
piece, a model of terse English and trenchant 
thought. 

Edward Everett himself recognized this, as 
soon as he saw the speech in type. He sat 
down and wrote Lincoln the following gen- 
erous and graceful tribute : 

"I should be glad if I could flatter myself 
that I came as near the central idea of the 
occasion in two hours, as you did in two 
minutes." 

This is what Lincoln said on that day : 

"Fourscore and seven years ago our fathers 
brought forth on this continent a new nation, 
conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the 
proposition that all men are created equal. 

"Now we are engaged in a great civil war, 
testing whether that nation, or any nation so 
conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. 
We are met on a great battlefield of that war. 
We have come to dedicate a portion of that 
field, as a final resting-place for those who 



158 FAMOUS AMERICANS 

here gave their lives that that nation might 
live. It is altogether fitting and proper that 
we should do this. 

"But, in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate — 
we cannot consecrate — we cannot hallow — this 
ground. The brave men, living and dead, who 
struggled here, have consecrated it far above 
our poor power to add or detract. The world 
will little note nor long remember what we say 
here, but it can never forget what they did 
here. It is for us, the living, rather, to be dedi- 
cated here to the unfinished work which they 
who fought here have thus far so nobly ad- 
vanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated 
to the great task remaining before us — that 
from these honored dead we take increased 
devotion to that cause for which they gave the 
last full measure of devotion; that we here 
highly resolve that these dead shall not have 
died in vain ; that this nation, under God, shall 
have a new birth of freedom ; and that govern- 
ment of the people, by the people, for the 
people, shall not perish from the earth." 



XIX 

LINCOLN IS REELECTED 

The year 1864 was another momentous one 
in Lincoln's life. He had finally placed Grant 
at the head of the Union forces, and people 
thought that now the South would be brought 
to its knees. But Lee and Johnston still 
proved too resourceful for their opponents, as 
was proved in the bloody battles of the Wilder- 
ness, Spottsylvania, and Cold Harbor. Grant 
lost 50,000 men in a single month. But he shut 
his lips grimly, and issued this famous mes- 
sage: 

"I propose to fight it out on this line if it 
takes all summer." 

More men must be forthcoming, however, 
and since volunteering had fallen off, Lincoln 
was forced to resort to conscription. In New 
York City such opposition was encountered 
that the Draft Riots resulted, many lives were 

159 



160 FAMOUS AMERICANS 

lost, and 10,000 troops had to be sent there to 
restore order. 

How different from the drafts of our own 
day, made necessary by the World War! We 
submitted all over the country to this stern 
necessity as a matter of course. 

But one result of the draft in Lincoln's day 
was to imperil seriously his chances of reelec- 
tion to the presidency. The elections were to 
be held in the fall. He had bitter rivals in his 
own party, chief of whom was Salmon P. 
Chase, who left the Cabinet in order to oppose 
him. But Chase's own State, Ohio, favored 
Lincoln. He received the nomination, with 
Andrew Johnson, war Governor of Tennessee, 
as Vice-President. Johnson, like Lincoln, had 
been a poor boy in his youth, and had run a 
tailor shop in Greenville. 

When the committee informed Lincoln of 
his nomination, he said quizzically: "I do not 
allow myself to suppose that the Convention 
have concluded that I am either the greatest or 
the best man in America ; but rather they have 
concluded it is not best to swap horses while 
crossing a stream; and have further concluded 
that I am not so poor a horse but that they 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 161 

might make a botch of it if they tried to swap." 
The homely phrase, "Don't swap your 
horses while crossing a stream," instantly 
caught on, and was used with telling effect in 
the campaign which ensued. Folks thought 
that, after all, Lincoln might be right. With 
him still in office, and the stubborn Grant who 
was going "to fight it out if it took all summer" 
— they felt they had a team they could not 
afford to swap. 

The other party nominated — of all persons 
— McClellan! That general had nursed a 
grudge against Lincoln ever since the opening 
of the war, and now saw his opportunity to get 
square. His platform promised a speedy end- 
ing of the war, but advised a truce and a peace- 
ful agreement. Four years of bloodshed was 
enough, they said. Let's patch up our dif- 
ferences with the Southern States, and be 
friends. Many prominent men of Lincoln's 
own party indorsed this idea, and for a time it 
looked as though McClellan might be elected. 
Lincoln himself took no part in the campaign. 
He was so rushed with war duties that he had 
no time; and he had come to view the result 
with some indifference. 



162 FAMOUS AMERICANS 

"If the people want somebody else, let them 
have him," he said. 

His attention was called to the fact that a 
cabal was at work against him in the army. 
Others of the disgruntled generals whom he 
had felt forced to remove from the leadership 
were making speeches for McClellan. 

"Let them speak all they want to," he 
replied. "Supporting General McClellan 
for the presidency is not a violation of the 
army regulations ; and as a question of taste in 
choosing between him and me — well, I'm the 
longest, but he's better looking!" 

McClellan, however, was not "better-look- 
ing" to the voters of the country; and Lincoln 
was reelected by a popular majority of half a 
million votes. When the result was announced, 
Lincoln, who was over at the War Department 
cracking jokes and apparently unmindful of 
the election, turned to an orderly and said : 

"Send the word over to Madam. She will 
be more interested than I am." 

Just as on the former occasion in Spring- 
field, his first thought in this moment of 
triumph was of his wife. 

When the South saw that Lincoln's policies 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 163 

were to continue, and that their armies were 
gradually getting the worst of it, they asked 
for a peace parley with him in person at Hamp- 
ton Roads. They sent their Vice-President, 
Alexander H. Stephens, to meet him and Lin- 
coln, against the advice of his friends, went 
down to the conference. But it came to 
naught, as the first demand made by the South- 
erners was the recognition of the Confederacy, 
and to that Lincoln would never consent. 

However, when he went back to Washington 
he did try to launch a project which he had 
long considered. He told his Cabinet that he 
wanted to ask Congress to appropriate four 
hundred million dollars to buy the slaves from 
the South. This was on condition that they 
would lay down their arms and reenter the 
Union. 

Lincoln had long felt that since the slaves 
were property, it would be fairer to the owners 
to purchase this property and then free the 
slaves. But to a man his Cabinet opposed the 
idea. So determined were they that the Pres- 
ident said sorrowfully: "Very well, gentle- 
men, I see you are all opposed to me. I will 
not send the message." 



164 FAMOUS AMERICANS 

Instead, they prepared an amendment to the 
Constitution, which forbade slavery within the 
borders of the United States, and after Con- 
gress passed it, the requisite number of States 
ratified it. 

At his New Year's reception, January 1, 
1865, and the last that he was ever to hold, hun- 
dreds of negroes clustered in the White House 
lawn hesitating to enter but desirous of greet- 
ing this man who had done so much for them. 
It was late in the day when the crowd of white 
persons thinned out, and the negroes began 
timidly to come in. Lincoln was very tired 
from a day of hand-shaking, but when he 
heard of the crowd of negroes outside, he said, 
"Tell them all to come in." 

And in they flocked, crowding about him, 
kissing his hands or his coat, weeping, and 
calling on Heaven to bless him. The colored 
race has always been sentimental and childlike. 
They had come to regard Lincoln as their 
earthly savior and almost more than mortal. 
As the President saw this crowd of simple folk 
looking to him as to a god he must have felt a 
great joy — and a great responsibility. 

But already the negro was beginning to 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 165 

show his sense of responsibility. Negro regi- 
ments had been recruited which gave a good 
account of themselves. And in the second in- 
augural procession these negro troops marched 
with soldierly bearing. Negro schools were 
being started, and other civic bodies or- 
ganized. 

This second inaugural, March 4, 1865, was 
even more solemn and impressive than had been 
the first one, four years before, when an untried 
man was being inducted into office. The 
country was still at war, but the general feel- 
ing was that it must end soon. And Lincoln 
had measured up to his task. 

In his present speech he sounded the same 
note he had struck four years earlier. He held 
no hatred toward any party or section, but 
again stated that his object had been to live up 
to his oath and protect the Union. 

"Both parties deprecated war," he said. 
"But one of them would make war rather than 
let the nation survive, and the other would 
accept war rather than let it perish. And the 
war came." 

And he ended with these memorable words : 

"Fondly do we hope, fervently do we pray, 



166 FAMOUS AMERICANS 

that this mighty scourge of war may speedily 
pass away. Yet if God wills that it continue 
until all the wealth piled by the bondman's 
two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil 
shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood 
drawn with the lash shall be paid by another 
drawn with the sword, as was said three thou- 
sand years ago, so still it must be said, 'The 
judgments of the Lord are true and righteous 
altogether.' 

"With malice toward none, with charity for 
all ; with firmness in the right, as God gives us 
to see the right, let us strive on to finish the 
work we are in; to bind up the nation's wounds ; 
to care for him who shall have borne the battle, 
and for his widow and for his orphan; to do all 
which may achieve and cherish a just and last- 
ing peace among ourselves, and with all 
nations." 



XX 

THE CLOSING SCENE 

After that second inaugural great events 
trod rapidly upon one another's heels. The 
great war was nearing its final stages. Sher- 
man had ended his victorious march to the sea, 
and was now pressing back north, driving 
Johnston, the Confederate general, before 
him. Sheridan had cleaned up the Shenan- 
doah Valley with a dash and brilliancy which 
recalled the feats of Stonewall Jackson, the 
Southern leader, who had lost his life. Grant 
still pounded on Lee and had finally forced 
him back to Richmond. The Southern ar- 
mies, shut in between Grant and Sherman, 
were like wheat between the upper and nether 
millstone. 

About this time Lincoln decided to take a 
vacation. But he chose to spend it behind the 
lines. With Mrs. Lincoln and their small son, 

167 



168 FAMOUS AMERICANS 

Tad, he went down the Potomac and up 
the James rivers, to Grant's headquarters, near 
Petersburg. He remained there ten days and 
enjoyed the army life hugely. It also enabled 
him to escape the throng of office-seekers 
which so constantly beset him in Washington. 

Much of the time during his visit he spent 
on the steamer, River Queen, and here, late 
in March, occurred a memorable meeting be- 
tween him, Generals Grant and Sherman, and 
Admiral Porter, who commanded the navy. 
As they discussed plans for the next engage- 
ments, Lincoln exclaimed more than once, 
"Must more blood be shed? Cannot this last 
bloody battle be avoided?" 

General Sherman adds this personal tribute : 
"When I left Mr. Lincoln I was more than 
ever impressed by his kindly nature, his deep 
and earnest sympathy with the afflictions of the 
whole people. I felt that his earnest desire was 
to end the war speedily, without more blood- 
shed or devastation, and to restore all the men 
of both sections to their homes. In the lan- 
guage of his second inaugural address, he 
seemed to have 'charity for all, malice toward 
none.' " 




< 

2 If 

Q o 
< Q, 
W . 

"o 
u 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 169 

This same trait of forbearance was brought 
out a few days later, when the stronghold of 
Petersburg fell into the hands of Union troops. 
Lincoln and Porter visited the city and, with 
General Grant, sat for nearly two hours watch- 
ing the troops pass by. It was a famous group, 
and the soldiers and citizens greeted them with 
hearty cheers. Lincoln's face, which had 
grown so haggard and careworn during the 
months of strife, seemed years younger. He 
laughed and joked like a boy. Presently a 
throng of Southern prisoners of war passed by. 
But, far from being dejected, they were laugh- 
ing and joking among themselves. Each had 
a huge chunk of bread and meat — the first real 
food they had had in days. Moreover, most of 
them were Virginians and were going back to 
their homes. When they caught sight of Lin- 
coln, they at once recognized him, but greeted 
him in friendly fashion and he waved his hand 
in return. Admiral Porter himself describes 
this scene: 

" 'That's Old Abe,' said one in a low voice. 
'Give the old fellow three cheers,' said another. 
While a third called out, 'Hello, Abe, your 
bread and meat's better than popcorn !' It was 



170 FAMOUS AMERICANS 

all good-natured and not meant in unkindness. 
I could see no difference between them and our 
own men, except that they were ragged and 
attenuated for want of wholesome food. They 
were as happy a set of men as ever I saw. 
They could see their homes looming up before 
them in the distance, and knew that the war 
was over. 

" 'They will never shoulder a musket again 
in anger,' said the President, 'and if Grant is 
wise he will leave them their guns to shoot 
crows with. It would do no harm.' ' 

It is pleasant to note that Grant had the 
same idea, and when the surrender of Lee 
came, only a few days later, he refused the 
latter's proffered sword, shook hands with him 
instead, fed his men, and told them to go back 
home and start plowing! 

When news came that Richmond had fallen, 
Lincoln said, "The whole of this last four years 
seems like a horrid nightmare. I must see 
Richmond." And visit it he did, with only 
a small bodyguard, walking freely around 
the streets of this shattered Southern town, 
although at any moment a bullet from some 
skulking enemy might have laid him low. 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 171 

Indeed, he heard of many threats of assas- 
sination during these troubled days, but paid 
no attention to them. On his return to 
Washington, Mrs. Lincoln remarked, "Please 
be careful. Washington is filled with our 
enemies." 

Turning to her quickly, he said, "Don't use 
that word. We have no enemies now." 

He had already put the war in the back- 
ground and was willing to accept any man, 
North or South, as his friend. We have pre- 
viously noted the fact that both he and Mrs. 
Lincoln were Southern by birth. Two of her 
brothers fought on the Southern side, and one 
of them was dangerously wounded at Shiloh. 
While he lay ill, Mrs. Lincoln was called upon, 
as mistress of the White House, to open a ball 
in celebration of this victory. 

But many a home had been divided by this 
dread war, and Lincoln was anxious to forget 
the "nightmare" as quickly as possible. He 
repeatedly urged his generals to "be lenient," 
and it was furthest from his desires to inflict 
any penalty whatever upon the South or its 
leaders. Had his life been spared, the history 
of the South after the war, and of that tragedy 



172 FAMOUS AMERICANS 

called "Reconstruction," would have been dif- 
ferent. For there were those in Congress who 
thought that the Southern States should be 
treated like "conquered provinces." 

The glad tidings of Lee's surrender came on 
April 9. Five days later, Lincoln had his 
regular Cabinet meeting. The whole text of 
his discourse was reconciliation. There were 
to be no reprisals, no punishments of any sort, 
he said. If the leaders of the late Confederacy 
wanted to leave the country, they might do so. 
If they wanted to remain as fellow-citizens, 
that also was their privilege. 

"Gentlemen, they are our brothers," he said. 

And every member of the Cabinet went 
away that day marveling at the bigness of 
Abraham Lincoln. 

That night, by way of relaxation, Lincoln 
went with Mrs. Lincoln and a party of friends 
to Ford's Theater, to attend a farce called 
"Our American Cousin." The party was late 
in arriving, and the play had already begun 
when they entered the upper boxes reserved 
for them. The audience recognized the Pres- 
ident by rising and waving their handkerchiefs 
and applauding, until he was seated. He 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 173 

acknowledged their cheers, and sat down to 
en j oy the play. A great load was off his mind, 
and for the first time since becoming President 
he felt carefree and happy. 

The third act of the play was on, and all, 
including the President, were laughing at the 
droll situation, when suddenly a pistol shot was 
heard, and a moment later a man sprang from 
the rail of the President's box to the stage 
below. The man was a half -crazed actor, John 
Wilkes Booth, who thought that by this bloody 
deed he had "avenged the South." But instead 
he had struck down one who might have 
been the South's best friend. Booth waved 
his smoking weapon, shouting, "Sic semper 
tyrannis!" — then sprang back of the stage and 
made his escape. 

For a moment no one sensed the import of 
this interruption. Then like a shudder a 
whisper ran through the house: 

"The President is shot! He is dying!" 

All eyes turned to the Presidential box. All 
its occupants were in wild commotion, except 
one still figure, over whom Mrs. Lincoln bent 
sobbing. He sat with head bent forward upon 
his breast — unconscious. 



174 FAMOUS AMERICANS 

Past the throng which was now in wild 
uproar they carried the limp figure to a lodg- 
ing-house nearby, and laid it upon the bed. 
Physicians were hastily summoned, and every- 
thing that mortal man could do was done to 
restore the spark of life. But the fatal bullet 
had pierced his brain, and Lincoln never recov- 
ered consciousness. The next morning shortly 
after sunrise he breathed his last. 

Stanton turned to the others around the bed- 
side, his rugged face contorted with grief. In 
a hoarse whisper, he said : 

"Now he belongs to the Ages!" 



XXI 

a nation's grief 

When the news was flashed from state to 
state that Lincoln was slain, the whole nation 
paused in horror and amazement. It could 
not be true, they said ! 

The great war-President had made many 
enemies and critics both North and South, in 
that titanic struggle of four years. Any mor- 
tal man would have done so. But now that he 
was stricken down, they began to realize what 
manner of man he was. 

In the South, after the first feeling of 
exultation on the part of the most bitterly 
partisan, they began to see Lincoln in his true 
light, as a genuine friend of the South. They 
were destined to see this more and more, in 
the bitter years that were to follow, and to 
regret that his gentle, forgiving spirit did not 
brood over the troubled waters of Washington. 

175 



176 FAMOUS AMERICANS 

In the North, people gave themselves over 
to unrestrained expressions of grief. Some 
went along the street weeping unrestrainedly. 
Others who were total strangers to one an- 
other stopped and talked together like brothers 
over the loss of a father. In thousands of 
homes emblems of mourning were displayed. 
Business was completely suspended. 

A scene in Philadelphia, when the news first 
reached there, was typical of occurrences all 
over the land. 

"We had taken our seats in the early car to 
ride downtown," says an eye-witness, "men 
and boys going to work. The morning papers 
had come up from town as usual, and the men 
unrolled them to read as the car started. The 
eye fell on the black border and ominous col- 
umn lines. Before we could speak, a good 
Quaker at the head of the car broke out in 
horror: 

" 'My God! What's this? Lincoln is assas- 
sinated!' 

"The driver stopped the car, and came in to 
hear the awful tidings. There stood the car, 
mid-street, as the heavy news was read in the 
gray dawn of that ill-fated day. Men bowed 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 177 

their heads in their hands, and on the straw- 
covered floor hot tears fell fast. Silently the 
driver took the bells from his horses, and we 
started like a hearse city-ward. 

"What a changed city since the day before 1 
Then all was joy over the end of the war; now 
we were plunged in a deeper gulf of woe. The 
sun rose on a city smitten and weeping. All 
traffic stood still; the icy hand of death lay 
flat on the heart of commerce, and it gave not a 
throb. Men stood by their open stores saying, 
with hands on each other's shoulders, 'Our 
President is dead! Our President is dead!' " 

A regiment of negro soldiers formed the 
guard of honor for the funeral procession from 
the White House to the Capitol, where the 
casket lay in state in the rotunda. There for 
hours the citizens passed by silently to look 
for the last time upon the homely but beloved 
face. Many went out the door sobbing aloud 
and without restraint. 

A special funeral car, entirely draped in 
black, but with glass sides permitting a view 
within, carried the casket back by rail along 
the same route which Lincoln had followed 
when he came to Washington to be in- 



178 FAMOUS AMERICANS 

augurated. The highest officers of the Army 
and Navy and deputations from the Senate 
and House of Representatives acted as honor- 
ary escort. 

The scene in the Capitol at Washington was 
repeated at the Pennsylvania Capitol. The 
State set aside an official day of mourning. In 
New York City half a million persons filed by 
to pay a last tribute to the martyred president. 
At Albany, Syracuse, Rochester, Buffalo and 
Cleveland, other stops were made, where 
countless thousands thronged about the casket. 
But the most pathetic mourners of all were 
those of the countryside and way stations 
where the car did not stop, who sat by the 
railroad track all day long to wait and watch 
for its coming, and who, perchance, threw 
garlands of flowers at the black-draped car as 
it sped by. 

No conqueror of old was ever accorded such 
a triumph, marching in at the head of his 
legions, as was the mortal remains of Abraham 
Lincoln on the way back to his Illinois home. 

In the State Capitols of Ohio and Indiana 
— at Columbus and Indianapolis — official 
honors were paid his memory. Next came 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 179 

Chicago, where was such an outpouring that it 
seemed as if the entire city were there. And 
finally they stopped at the Springfield Capitol, 
where his home folks received and paid homage 
to their own. 

After a simple funeral service, the coffin- 
lid was closed for the last time. There was a 
hymn, a prayer, a brief address, and the read- 
ing of Lincoln's own Second Inaugural Ad- 
dress, with its lofty words of closing: 

"With malice toward none, with charity for 
all, with firmness in the right, as God gives us 
to see the right, let us strive on to finish the 
work we are in; to bind up the nation's 
wounds; to care for him who shall have borne 
the battle, and for his widow and for his 
orphan; to do all which may achieve and cher- 
ish a just and lasting peace among ourselves 
and with all nations." 

It was a fitting summing-up of Lincoln's 
own life work. He had striven to bind up the 
nation's wounds — to achieve a just and lasting 
peace. And no man — not even his bitterest 
enemy — when once he came to know that gen- 



180 FAMOUS AMERICANS 

erous heart could accuse Lincoln of "malice" 
or lack of "charity for all." 

Lincoln's body was laid to rest in Oak Ridge 
Cemetery, Springfield, Illinois, on March 14, 
1865. 

Years after, a grateful nation transported 
the timbers of his humble birthplace from 
Hodgensville, Kentucky, piece by piece, and 
set them up again within a splendid memorial 
building at Washington. It is there not so 
much to honor Lincoln, for he needs no such 
monument to-day, as to serve as an example 
and incentive to every other young American. 
"Here," it seems to say, "is what one poor, 
ignorant, backwoods boy accomplished I" 

James Russell Lowell has eloquently voiced 
this theme in his Ode to Lincoln: 

"Nature, they say, doth dote, 
And cannot make a man 
Save on some worn-out plan, 
Repeating us by rote; 
For him her Old-World moulds aside she threw, 
And choosing sweet clay from the breast 
Of the unexhausted West, 
With stuff untainted shaped a hero new, 
Wise, steadfast in the strength of God, and true. 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 181 

'Great captains, with their guns and drums 
Disturb our judgment for the hour, 
But at last silence comes; 
These all are gone, and, standing like a tower, 
Our children shall behold his fame, 

The kindly, earnest, brave, fore-seeing man, 
Sagacious, patient, dreading praise, not blame, 
New birth of our new soil, the first American." 



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